


Dream Lover

by RogueTiger



Series: Purgatory and Bitten [2]
Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-12-10 14:30:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 25,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11693631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RogueTiger/pseuds/RogueTiger
Summary: All her life, Waverly Earp has been able to dream walk.  Since she turned 18 her dreams have been spent with a unnamed redhead.  Three years on, her sister has come back into her life and she gets a visitor at the bar eager to introduce herself.A bit smutty, slightly canon (I'm useless at keeping track of everything that goes on in this amazing show).





	1. Chapter 1

As the early morning sun skimmed across her eyelids, Waverly cracked open her eyes, a smile playing around her lips as she stretched and moved closer to the warmth and comfort of her lover’s back.

Not unusually, she has played the part of big spoon during the night despite being the shorter of them by several inches.  Pressing a string of gentle kisses across the shoulders of her small spoon, she smiles in anticipation as her lover murmurs quietly and stretches with a languid motion that presses them closer together.

Waverly pushes the covers further down, savouring the reveal after weeks apart and continues to explore the expanse of flesh on display with mouth and fingertips.  Brushing aside a sun-kissed strand of bright red hair she kisses across her shoulders, delighting in the velvet soft skin over firm but feminine muscles.  She doesn’t know what her lover does when they are apart but it is obvious that she takes care of her body.

Continuing her exploration, reclaiming every inch, every sigh and hitched breath as hers, Waverly runs her fingers down, teasing along the indentation of spine to the dimples at the base just before it curves upwards at the temptingly perky ass that’s pressed into the cradle of her thighs and abdomen.  Hand sweeping gently around, caressing over waist and hip, pausing right on the edge where the skin is so soft and delicate and very tempting.

Tongue flicking across shoulder blades and spine, reaching into the warmth at the nape of neck as she sweeps aside her hair, Waverly smirked knowingly as her lovers breathing hitches further and a tremulous moan is wrung from deep within as she sucks upon her pulse and caresses the shell of her ear and sets her lover writhing against her.

Reluctantly, Waverly lightens her touch until she quietens.  She can’t resist for long though and even though she knows everything could come crashing down, she teases the toned planes of her lover’s abdomen, playing around the lines of muscle that marks fairly impressive abs before teasing up to cup and lightly play with the fullness of her breasts.

This was always the most difficult part, controlling the urge to increase her touch, to squeeze the soft flesh until her lover moaned, to play, pinch and pull at the hardening buds of her pale dusky nipples as they responded to her teasing.

Moaning herself, Waverly restrained herself until her lover relaxed again under her touch and satisfied herself with grazing her teeth across her shoulder and neck.  Soothing the small sting of teeth she bathed the wounds with lavish swipes of her tongue, tasting the slight saltiness of flesh as it dewed with sweat.

Waverly ached to explore further, to run her hands down and explore between her lovers thighs.  She wanted to run her fingers and tongue through the sweet essence she could smell welling up and spilling over from even her most gentle of touches.  She ached with the need so much, the desire, that her muscles burned from the effort as she held herself back.

She knew what would happen if she went too far, too rough.  She had always had the ability to dream walk ever since she was a child but it was only in the past couple of years, since she had turned eighteen, that it had taken a whole different turn from visiting places and the dreams of people she knew and she had found herself sharing her nights with this stunningly beautiful redhead.  Waverly had more control of her ‘dreams’.  She knew how to stay within them, how to manipulate where she was.  What she couldn’t control though was her partner.

If she had abilities they were untrained and even though she was a heavy sleeper, if their actions stirred her too much, her unnamed lover would awake and fade from her arms.  Leaving Waverly with a desire she couldn’t slake herself.  She wanted the woman in her arms too much for anything other than her touch to satisfy… god knows, she had tried.

Because of all that though it meant that Waverly had been unable to find out more about her… her name, where she lived.  Just the vital things Waverly needed to try and get them together outside of their dreams so they could get to know each other.  Which was a strange situation to be in for someone that thought of herself as straight.

Waverly was left blinking as her lover suddenly turned in her arms and eased her on to her back, taking control as she covered her with her body and pressed her into the mattress with her weight.  Waverly sighed softly, her breath panting out as warm lips caressed across her own with barely controlled desperation.  A muscled thigh sliding between hers as their legs slid together, hips coming together in a slow, delicate undulation that had Waverly whimpering against the tongue exploring the inside of her lips with gentle thoroughness.  Waverly tried to contain her desire, reluctant to be brought high and then abandoned but her lover wouldn’t be denied.

Her eyes stayed closed but she didn’t need to see as her hands explored, cupping and squeezing at flesh made sensitive and responsive by desire.  Waverly’s hands slid across the silk covered muscles of her back as she slid down, flesh caressing flesh.  The moist heat of breath, mouth and tongue and the gentle scrape of teeth lighting a trail over her breasts and abdomen that had Waverly writhing under her.

Wrapping her hands in the silken strands of fire, Waverly clutched at her hair, desperately trying not to pull too hard as she held her back from her goal as her chin nuzzled against the desire slicked, soft curls.  A soft knowing smile met her weak attempt to restrain and Waverly’s heart and body soared, her hips rising from the mattress to meet her lovers tongue and lips as she saw that her eyes had opened and she saw clearly the heat of hunger and love within the warmth of her brown eyes.

She had a boyfriend but he didn’t like to put his mouth upon here there and when he did, he tended to focussed on one area, usually the clit and just licked like he were almost afraid to taste it or be touched by the juices flowing from her.  Not her lover.

Murmurs of appreciation spilled from her mouth as she delicately spread her wide and touched and breathed in her scent.  The first brush of tongue was always delicate, a light tasting, making sure she was ready, that had Waverly’s hips climbing and made her lover chuckle and pin her down.  After that… well Waverly was always at a loss to come up with words or even think about what her lover did without ending up a twitching mess again.

The best way she could even begin to describe it though was to imagine the deepest, most hungry kiss, the kind that feels like the person wants nothing more than to spill their soul into you and touch every inch of you at the same time.  That was how her lover tasted and played her body.

Her tongue swirled and explored as she chased Waverly higher and higher despite Waverly’s pitiful half-hearted attempts to slow her down or risk losing her and her orgasm to one of them being dragged from sleep.  She refused to be denied, growling and redoubling her efforts as she hit the right spot and Waverly’s body went limp in pleasure before bowing up tighter than before, every muscle quivering and straining as she quickly soared towards completion…

“Waverly!  Waverly!!!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops, did I forget to mention that Wynonna would be interrupting? ;)  
> What can I say, I suck at love scenes and needed a distraction :p

“Waverly!”

Sitting bolt upright in bed, Waverly looked around, blinking and wondering where she was, where the hell her lover was and where the hell the pounding was coming from!?

“Waves!!!  Are you okay, baby girl!?”

Groaning, Waverly flopped back on her bed and pulled the covers up over her head as her sister finally grew impatient with her lack of response and burst her way into the bedroom with a hand over her eyes.  “Please, tell me Chump Change isn’t in here?”

“Wy!” Waverly groaned in frustration and exasperation that was only slightly dimmed by her love of her sister.  Folding the covers down a fraction she peek at her sister over the edge of them.  “If you thought he was here why in the hell would you come in?”

Grinning unrepentantly, Wynonna flopped down on the edge of her little sisters bed and tossed her dark brunette hair back over her shoulder.  “It was me or Gus.  She thought you were being attacked or having a nightmare with all the screaming you were doing.  So I offered to come up and protect my little sister.  And I was kind of hoping I could threaten to pop a round or two into that skid marks ass with Peace Maker.”

“I think my room has seen enough gunfire lately,” Waverly stated as she slapped her sister’s shoulder.

“Hey, that one was all on you, baby girl!”  Picking up a stray feather that had been missed in Waverly’s clean up after blasting her poor innocent pillows to pieces with a shotgun, Wynonna booped her on the nose with it and tried not to imaging what state her ass would have been in if she hadn’t dove for cover quick enough.

“You were trying to seduce him!”

“Firstly… Champ, Ew!!  Secondly… I’m innocent in all this!  Well maybe not but I wasn’t going to do anything like that.  I just wanted information and he came on to me.  Hey, I haven’t been around, which of us was the one that knew he was your boyfriend?”  Wynonna sagged a little at the hurt in Waverly’s eyes.  “Hey, I’m sorry, baby girl.  You know you can do better than Champ…”

“I’m not upset about him, silly.  Just thinking about how long you stayed away.  I missed my big sister.”

“Missed you too, baby girl.  Hey, you should come with me… Greece would do wonders for you.  Weather is amazing, no cold ass snow.  And dating wise… all those tanned, hard Greek god bodies just eager to please…”  She made a suggestive purring noise and wiggled her eyebrows until Waverly smiled.

“You know I can’t leave, Wy.  And neither can you.  You just turned 27, you’re the heir now!”

“Yeah right,” snorting, Wynonna climbed to her feet and tried to ignore the weight and responsibility of the gun at her side and Waverly’s earnest and enthusiastic gaze.  Only Waverly could get excited about something Wynonna had been trying to run from and deny most of her life.  Damn curse!  Wasn’t even like she was even supposed to be the heir.  That should have been Willa.

Seeing her little sister revving up for a lecture on being Wyatt Earp’s heir and killing revenants, Wynonna decided to distract her.  “So, seeing as Chump isn’t here… just what, or who, had you moaning and bellowing like a wildcat in heat?”

As distractions went it worked perfectly.  Waverly flushed a lovely shade of red and started spluttering instead of lecturing.  Wynonna dodged the pillow flying at her head and ducked out of the room with a chuckle.

Locking the door behind Wynonna, Waverly leaned back against the wood and groaned.  Raking her hands through her light brunette hair she took in the rumpled state of her bed and instantly became far too aware of how much her body ached from her dream lovers interrupted touch.  Damn it!  She had been so close too until Wynonna had barged in!

Stripping out of her nightwear, Waverly looked at herself in the mirror, taking in the needy look in her hazel eyes before throwing herself into the shower and turning the water on cold even though she knew it would do little to ease the ache cause by yet another interrupted orgasm.

Grumbling quite violently, Waverly dried herself briskly and tried not to linger anywhere that would just make her frustration rise further.  It wouldn’t be so bad if she could take care of it herself, or if Champ was any better in that department, but she knew from the experience of far too many interrupted dreams that when it came to arousal caused by that particular lover, a certain redhead was the only one that could scratch that itch.

Three years they had met in their dreams, or at least Waverly hoped that she was meeting a real person and it wasn’t all a dream.  Though… sometimes she wasn’t sure which would be best, to find out that she had some kind of ability to dream walk and had picked a woman to be her lover or to find out it was all a dream and she was frustrating herself?

She could be more certain if they could talk, but talking meant thinking too much, and they woke up.  Being able to remember more would help too but, just as with any dream, once she was awake, Waverly found that details she swore she would never forget, gradually faded until they next time they met.

The only thing she remembered for certain was that her lover had bright red hair, everything else flickered in and out in little glimpses that she wasn’t sure were real or not…  A warm killer smile, dimples, soft pale skin, and a million and one details that could only be confirmed by seeing her naked.

Waverly had never told anyone about her ‘dreams’.  But, really, who had there been to tell?  Champ was only interested in himself, his own pleasure and getting more of it by chasing every piece of skirt he saw… a terrible way to think about her boyfriend but it was true.  But what could she do about it?  The dating pool in Purgatory was ridiculously shallow and she was lucky to have gotten him… even if he did stray too often… but at least he was there and hadn’t run away.

Wynonna was the only actually family she had left but she had only just come back into her life after abandoning her and as much as Waverly loved her big sister she hadn’t gotten over that… and anyway, Wynonna had enough to deal with coming to terms with the whole curse and being the heir thing.  A task only Wynonna seemed to be the one to do.  That was one thing that Waverly had found out from all her research… once again, she wasn’t good enough.

Gus probably would have listened but she and Curtis had brought her up after Wynonna had left, they were family and trying to work out how to explain her lover to them without sounding crazy made Waverly blush.

As for any of her ‘friends’ they has backed away like they’d seen a tornado coming the moment the crazy, bad seed of the Earp family, Wynonna, had turned up.  If she told them, they would probably run away screaming, spread the word and Waverly would have ended up in a mental hospital getting the same antiquated shock therapy they had given her.  And Waverly didn’t want them trying to burn her out of her mind.  What she needed was a way to get closer to her, a way to communicate and find out just where the hell she was… who she was.


	3. Chapter 3

“Ya!  Jesus!”  Slapping at the beer tap, Waverly finally managed to stop the spray of beer that had soaked her top.  Throwing up her hands in exasperation she looked down at the mess caused by wanting to give the darn taps an extra polish to distract herself from the thought of the look in her brown eyes before the bar opened.  Shorty was always swearing to her that he was going to get them fixed but time after time Waverly seemed to run afoul of them.  Lips pursing, Waverly glared at the taps and flicked beer off her hands as she tried to work out whether to laugh or cry at the whole situation.  “Perfect!”

“I didn’t know Shorty’s had wet T-shirt competitions.”

Waverly’s head snapped to the left, taking in the figure lounging in the doorway.  Shoulder leaning against the doorjamb.  Wearing the typical old fashioned khakis and dark blue shirt of the Purgatory Police Department with a pale cream Stetson grasped loosely in her hands.  A bright smile played around her mouth, teasing the hint of dimples as she looked towards her.

“You okay?”

The humour in her voice was gentle and barely contained.  From anyone else Waverly knew she would have gotten angry but there was no malice in the humour, no attempt to put her down, just to put her at ease.

“Yeah,” grabbing a spare bar towel from a pile, Waverly started mopping herself up.  Focussing on trying to dry herself off, Waverly ducked her head in embarrassment and half watched with furtive glances at the woman as she left the dimness of the door way and slowly strode towards the bar.  Jeez but she was tall!  Five eight or nine, Waverly guessed… Everyone was the same height laying down though.

Waverly tried to stomp down on the stray thought.  Blaming the Wynonna interruption earlier for transferring thoughts usually reserved for her dream lover on to a complete stranger.  A very tall and shapely stranger at that!

She didn’t usually notice such things but she couldn’t help but admire how good she managed to make the unflattering khakis look and how slender her throat was where it was exposed by the way she went against the dress code and had the top buttons of her baggy uniform shirt undone.

“Just a bit jumpy… had a crazy night.”  Which was an understatement for most nights in one of the few bars in Purgatory.  But was even more an apt description after what had happened in the bar when Wynonna had had to send a revenant back to hell after he had tried to snatch Peace Maker.

That was something she couldn’t talk about with anyone let alone the newest recruit of the P.P.D.  Waverly had heard that Nedley had finally managed to tempt a recruit fresh out of the academy but she hadn’t known it was a woman and with Wynonna turning up again she hadn’t given it another thought.  Hadn’t had the time to.

“Sorry I wasn’t here to see it.”

The gentle humour was still there, putting Waverly at ease and lightening her mood with the softness of her accent.  If any of the male regulars had seen what happened there would have been catcalls for months but Waverly just knew that what had happened would stay between them.

As she stood right in front of her, Waverly felt a sudden and unusual quiver of interest at the way the taller woman worked the brim of her hat with nimble fingers before placing it upon the bar, the light hanging above making it shine bright and new.  “I’ve eh- I’ve been meaning to introduce myself.  I’m Nicole, Nicole Haught.”

Waverly took the offered hand as Nicole leaned across the bar and fully into the light.  As the long tapered fingers closed over hers in a firm but gentle grasp the light above the bar struck the red of Nicole’s tightly pulled back hair and Waverly found her world tilting.

There was no hint of recognition, only a deep, deep, interest in her, as she gazed into the warm chocolate brown eyes of her dream lover.


	4. Chapter 4

Long after the door swung shut behind Nicole, Waverly still felt light and giddy from the heat in her wide brown eyes and the promise in her bright smile.  Not even the embarrassment from getting caught up in her top while stripping out of it, which for some reason had seemed like a perfectly reasonable thing to do at the time!  And then having to be rescued from it when she had got caught in the tight fabric, could hold back Waverly’s smile as she picked up the business card Nicole had placed on the bar before settling her Stetson back on her head.

Waverly had felt the strange need to test the waters by throwing men into the conversation, or in the case of Champ, boy-man.  Nicole had shown brief glimpses of disappointment but had come back with comments and looks that had made it clear, to Waverly at least, that Nicole didn’t have a man in her life and wasn’t interested in them either… her interests lay in one direction only and that was the beer soaked woman stuttering about being a planner.

Waverly did like to plan though… planning on getting in on the action with B.B.D. was one thing.  Planning on how to work around the pesky fact that Nicole didn’t seem to be aware that they had been lovers for many years already, so she could get her hands of that ridiculously tightly braided hair and get at the body she knew was been hidden by that clunky, out of date uniform, was the other.

The business card was still warm from its time in the front pocket of Nicole’s khakis and Waverly found herself having to resist the urge to take a sniff to see if it held the same light vanilla scent she had caught when Nicole had rounded the bar and come to her rescue.  Thinking back, Waverly realised the card had been sticking out of the top of her pocket the whole time, which explained the creases.  It had been right there, just waiting to be handed over.  It made Waverly wonder if the coming in for a coffee hadn’t been all a ruse?  Wasn’t like there weren’t signs on the door with opening times on them to deter anyone wandering in when they saw a door open.

**_“When I see something I like, I don’t wanna wait.”_ **

The heat in her eyes and the look on Nicole’s face when she had stared intently at her while she said that, made Waverly ache and shiver in anticipation just at the memory of it.

“Officer… Haught,” Waverly smiled as she read the name printed on the card.  “Of course,” ducking her head she mulled over the aptness of her name as she glanced towards the door.

Too think, just that morning she had wanted more than to know her lovers name so she might be able to track her down somehow and here she was, in Purgatory, obviously one of the good guys if she was a cop.  And she was in reach and seeking her out… for coffee together… sometime.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, darn it, looks like I was wrong about the last chapter been the end as I just couldn't let go of the Wayhaught feelings.  
> Haven't really had the time to proofread these so I hope they aren't too rough.

The cold wrapped around Nicole as she left the bar, cutting through the fabric of her pants and jacket like she wasn’t even wearing them.  Walking on a curvy, literally walking ray of sunshine, Waverly shaped cloud of happiness, she barely even felt it though as she walked back to her cruiser and tossed her Stetson into the passenger seat as she slipped behind the wheel.

As she ran her hand over her French braid, smoothing down any wayward strands of hair, Nicole tried in vain to wipe the goofy grin off her face as she looked across the road at the bar and thought about Waverly Earp.

She had gotten her first glimpse of the beautiful brunette months before when she had visited Purgatory at Sheriff Nedley’s invitation to see if she might want to work there when she was done at the academy.  Nicole was one of the top students in her year, which was simply a fact and not bragging.  Because of that she had had offers from all around the state but one passing glance and her fate had been sealed.

Once she had moved to Purgatory though, getting to meet Waverly had been a whole different kettle of fish.  Oh, she worked in Shorty’s most nights but Nicole had ended up on the night shift.  Even when she had a break she had found herself too shy to push open the bar door and step inside.  For weeks she had rode by, her business card getting more and more creased every time she slipped it into her pocket ready.  And for weeks she had turned away and bolted from the bar and dove for cover when she had seen her around town with her boyfriend… her boy-man.  Which was a pretty accurate description given how often Nicole had seen his name on the holding cell list and had had to throw him in there to cool off herself.

He was in there so often, Nicole figured it would just be easier to put his name on the door.

Nicole had felt her heart shatter just a little more with each glimpse but had resigned herself to doing nothing about it.  It wasn’t like Shorty’s was the only place to drink it town if she was ever off duty when a place was open.  And she was kind of used to the whole limited dating pool even in a bigger city… there was always Netflix and chill with herself to keep her occupied.

And then… on her first day off and the chance to actually sleep in her own bed at a time normal to most people… it had happened again.  Those all too vivid dreams she had been plagued and delighted by for years.  Wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t keep getting cut short most of the time and hadn’t spoiled her for every other relationship she had had.

Which she knew was utter insanity to be in love with something created by her own mind.  And it was also pretty damn cruel of her mind to make her have to endure so many cold showers.  But she couldn’t stop them and she didn’t want to cause every time her lover touched and kissed her, Nicole felt complete.

The dream had been stronger than ever, the details more vivid and Nicole had been so exhausted from all the late shifts she had managed to draw the dream out long enough to bring her lover right there to the brink… and then she had woken up.

It had finally given Nicole the incentive to march her ass into Shorty’s though.  To finally introduce herself to the only other brunette she had been thinking about lately.  Nicole wasn’t sure if it had gone well or not though.  Waverly getting soaked and needing help stripping out of her shirt… now that had been amazing.  All the talk of men though had been hard to take even when Waverly had been throwing her looks like she wanted to eat her.

“Don’t fall for the straight girl!  Don’t fall for the straight girl!”  Nicole muttered as she started her cruiser with a twist of the key.  Falling for straight girls led to heartbreak, usually stuck, pining away, in the dreaded friendzone.

As she turned her car around and drove past Shorty’s though, Nicole couldn’t help the hopeful smile that spread over her face as she thought about Waverly.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am useless of keeping track of what takes place in which episode but in my mind this happens after Doc broke into Waverly's room and Waverly found her stuff missing while doing her show and tell to try and get in with B.B.D.

Waverly closed the door behind her and seeing that she wasn’t alone, carefully wrapped a smile in place even though inside she was screaming at Dolls and Wynonna’s rejection, again, of her helping out.  She’d done all the research they were using gosh darn it!  And yet still they just patted her on the head like she was a child and shooed her out.

Disappointment washed through her as a quick glance around revealed no sign of Nicole amongst the mismatched array of old but sturdy desks in the open plan squad room.

“Heyyyy!”  Giving a little wave, Waverly sidled up to the older woman manning the front desk.  Typical of Mary she adjusted her glasses and gave her a slightly exasperated and judging glance over the top of them as she looked Waverly up and down to let her know that she didn’t entirely approve of her attire.

“Lord, girl, how do you even wear that when it’s so cold?” she grouched, shaking her head as she took in Waverly’s exposed abdomen.  She tried to pull her gruff demeanour back into place but it faltered under the weight of Waverly’s bright smile.  “Is Champ in holding again?”

“Oh no!  At least I don’t think so,” Waverly pursed her lips as she tried to remember if she had heard from her boyfriend since he and his friends had been drinking at Shorty’s the night before.  Shaking her head she leaned against the tall desk.  “I was just in visiting my sister.”  Her heckles rose in defence of Wynonna at the look of distaste on Mary’s face.  She knew that Wynonna had been something of a wild child to say the least but she was still her sister and only she was allowed to tease her about that.  Everyone else needed to learn how to forgive and forget or just back the hell away from her.  “Oh, she’s not in holding either!  Erm, is Nicole… Officer Haught,” Waverly rushed to correct her familiarity, “is she on duty today?”

Mary’s eyebrow rose in thought at the way Waverly drawled out the Haught and flushed red while doing it.  “Hmm… I think she’s in but she’s not on duty until tonight.  Nedley’s had her on the night shift.  Poor kid, three weeks on night, one day off and then back on it.”

Waverly tried to school her face as Mary’s rambled concern for the new rookie revealed why her lover had been missing for those three weeks.  Couldn’t very well walk into someone’s dream if they were awake.  “So… she’s in somewhere?” she tried to hide her eagerness from Mary but, darn it, she wanted so badly to see Nicole again and reassure herself about her.  Okay, Waverly admitted to herself, she wanted to feel that rush of heat and tingles from being near her and… well maybe seeing her again might push Nicole towards some kind of realization about them.

Though, maybe that would be a tricky conversation to get into.  ‘Hi, I know this sounds crazy but have you been fucking me in my dreams for the past three years?’  Yeah, that could be tricky.  It was easy to be brazen in a dream where barriers were down.  Face to face though… yup, tricky.

“Are you okay, Waverly?  You’ve gone quite red… really, you should wrap up in this weather before you get pneumonia.”

Oops!  “I’m okay,” Waverly blustered and flashed Mary a reassuring smile.  “So, Haught… Nicole!  Any idea where I could find her?”

“Knowing that girl… try the gym.”

“Okay… wait,” Waverly spun back around.  “You’ve got a gym?”

Mary smiled at the incredulous tone of Waverly’s voice and joined the young girl in eyeballing the two deputies in the office, lounging around looking like the stereotypical coffee and donut eating cops, complete with paunch straining the front of their shirts.

“Hey, who stole the last sprinkle donut!?”

Waverly rubbed her forehead as she spotted Wynonna sneaking back towards the BBD offices with the aforementioned donut twirling on her finger and a shit eating grin on her face as she threw a wink across the room towards her before nudging the door open with her hip and vanishing out of sight.  Great, now she was going to feel guilty for Wynonna’s donut stealing and end up restocking for them.

“Well it wasn’t me!  Last time I made that mistake I thought Haught was going to kill me!”

Double ‘great’, it had been Nicole’s!  That made the guilt ten times worse and made Waverly wonder if Wynonna hadn’t known the trouble it would cause.  Yes, in Wy’s eyes, all donuts were created equal and fair game but if it might cause trouble between the ranks of her old nemesis’ she would most definitely do it.

Rolling her eyes at them, Mary reached out and patted Waverly’s hand.  “The gym is downstairs, dear.  Take a right at the bottom of the stairs towards the archives and another right before you get to them.  No point asking them to show you the way.  Five years it’s been down there and they’ve never hit it once.”

“Thanks, Mary.”  Waverly beamed at the older woman and forced herself to walk and not run or skip towards the door that led down to the basement under the sprawling building that held such a pitiful number of police officers considering the rate of crime in the area.  Really it was huge, bigger than the one in the big city they were nearly joined on to.  It was like Purgatory had been stunted in its growth by the Earp curse.

Waverly slowed as she neared the gym.  Chewing her lip she cusses at herself for not thinking to at least bring a coffee with her so she would have some reason for being there other than the fact that she needed to see and feel bathed in the warmth of that dimpled smile and the cautious heat in those brown eyes.

She almost turned away from the door… and then the realization hit her that gym meant gym appropriate clothing… tight, revealing, clothing.  Hoping more than anything that Nicole wasn’t the type to hide all that gorgeous body away beneath baggy sweats, Waverly slowly pushed the door open and peeked inside.

Waverly’s heart froze.  Fear rising, trying to force a scream past the hand she clamped over her mouth at the sight of Nicole sprawled on the floor.  Flat out on her back… unmoving.

Ungluing her feet from the floor, Waverly hurried through the door, her step faltering in indecision with every other step as she looked around the gym, trying to work out what could have happened for Nicole to end up like that?  There were no machines or weights around her to say she’d hit her head.  There was no pool of blood or anyone in the room that she could see to hint at an attack.

A soft murmur and snort made Waverly freeze and hunch over, her lungs raking in air in relief as she realized that her lover was simply asleep.  Alternating between wanting to throw something at the redhead for scaring her and smiling cause she looked so gosh darn cute, Waverly moved to her side and slowly knelt beside her.

As hoped, Nicole’s workout attire left little to her imagination with how it clung to her in all the right places.  Her obviously unplanned snooze had worked the fabric out of place though and Waverly was glad, for many reasons, that she had been the one to find her as she took in the soft swell of the underside of her boob where the top had rucked up and that softer than soft area of skin between hip and… well… heaven, where her shorts had been worked down by the motion of her body on the padded mats.

Waverly smiled, heat flooding her as Nicole smiled in her sleep and moved closer, her cheek nuzzling into the palm of her hand as Waverly caressed the line of jaw and cheekbone.  Brown eyes rendered soft by sleep, flickered open and half focused on her.  A warm smile spread slowly across Nicole’s lips to bring out those adorably sexy dimples and lit her eyes further.

“Hey, baby.”

“Hey there, sleepy.”  She wanted to lean down and taste the softness of Nicole’s drawled words upon her lips and explore her body without fear of waking pulling them apart.  Unfortunately she realized that waking still worked against them as Nicole’s eyes gained focus and she scrambled back out of reach when she realized where she was and what she had said.

“Waverly!?  Oh shit!  I’m sorry!  I shouldn’t have…” flushing with embarrassment for calling the younger woman, ‘baby’, Nicole groaned into her hands and tried to scramble to her feet.

“Hey, hey… it’s okay,” Waverly tried a light chuckle as she grabbed Nicole’s hands to stop her from making a break for it.  Tugging on them she got a look at the wariness in her brown eyes, the fear of rejection and that beautiful flare of heat that rose up as she looked at her and the burgeoning pain melted away.  “It’s okay, Nicole.  I shouldn’t have disturbed you while you were sleeping.  Must admit I’m a little jealous of whoever you were thinking of when you woke up… must be someone special?” she teased lightly as flags of red spread across Nicole’s cheeks.

The redness spread as Waverly dared herself to take it further.  Though, given that she wanted to jump all over the other woman, Waverly felt that straightening Nicole’s top was very restrained of her… even if she did let the tips of her fingers linger a moment longer than they should have on that soft swell of breast where it was exposed.

Nicole trapped Waverly’s hand beneath hers as her fingers hooked the waistband of her shorts.  Her breath caught at the need and pure unadulterated teasing in Waverly’s eyes as she caught her lip between white teeth and slowly eased her shorts back up to cover her hip.  Nicole blinked, feeling like a deer in the headlights of Waverly’s hazel eyes.  She felt so lost, caught between her own desire and the need to do the right thing.  Finding someone that made her feel like she was caught in one of those dreams did not give her the right to take it further, to pursue when she had already been told and seen that she was in a relationship.

That trumped her feelings even though she was sure that Waverly could do much better than Champ Hardy, someone she had heard Wynonna call a jumped up rodeo clown on more than one occasion.

Levering Waverly’s hands away from her body, Nicole stepped away and raked a hand over her hair as she tried to compose herself.  “Did…” clearing her throat she tried again, “did you need me for something, Waverly?  No one usually comes down here.”

Waverly blinked, more hurt than she wanted to admit by Nicole’s rejection.  “I just wanted to see how you were… needed someone to be with seeing as I’m not wanted up there.”

“Dolls?”

“And Wy too.  I could help them, I really could but they just shoo me away like a child.”

“Me too… though you got shooed, pretty sure I got threatened with execution for treason just for going in there.”

“He did what!?”

“Oh, it’s okay,” it wasn’t really, she wanted to make more of her career than just writing tickets, she wanted to make a difference.  What could she do though?  As well as a fascination with Waverly it had been Nedley with all his fine words about the job, how Purgatory needed her and promises of furthering her career, which had encouraged her to pick Purgatory over all the other bigger cities that had tried to get her.  When she had asked about B.B.D. and mentioned helping them and maybe complained about Doll’s threat, Nedley had just brushed her off and told her to leave the ‘kooky stuff’ to B.B.D. and had ended that conversation by putting her on double shifts for a week after three weeks of working nights.

She had decided to give it six months and then she would look elsewhere.  It was a decision she was firm on… as long as Waverly wasn’t within sight or on her mind.

“Ooooo… I have a good mind to go kick both their asses!!!”

“Hey, it’s okay,” smiling softly at Waverly’s bristling on her behalf, Nicole grasped her gently by the shoulders before she could storm off like an angry floofed up kitten and do anything rash.  And as she would rather take on a gang of armed bikers than an angry Waverly Earp, that was a comparison Nicole was keeping to herself for her own safety.  “They’re idiots for not letting you in with how many languages you speak.”

“And how do you know how many languages I can speak… Officer Haught?”

Ooops!  Nicole’s brain stuttered as Waverly tilted her head questioningly.  Damn it, she couldn’t lie to her!  “I kind of… abused my access to records and looked you up,” she admitted reluctantly.  “I mean it though, whatever the hell they’ve got going on it there, they’re idiots for trying to hold you back.”

“Thank you,” grinning at the vote of confidence and determined not to let Nicole hold her back either, Waverly raised up on tiptoe and brushed a kiss across Nicole’s cheek that deliberately skimmed across the corner of her mouth.  Her grin grew wider as she sank back down and took in the utterly shell shocked expression on Nicole’s face and felt long fingers flutter against her shoulder.  “Breathe, Nicole,” Waverly ordered softly.

“Wow,” gazing down at the shorter brunette, Nicole tried to compose herself and not let her mind and emotions run away over what was probably just a friendly kiss.  God though!  That knowing look in Waverly’s eyes was not helping!  She was older than Waverly, probably had much more experience with relationships, definitely when it came to women, but just one simple kiss and a look made Nicole feel like a teenager suffering from their first crush.  Did she know what she was doing to her or was it all some kind of game for her to play with the gay’s heart?

No.  Just because it had happened before, Nicole couldn’t believe that Waverly would be so cruel.  Not deliberately anyway.  “I’d better go get ready for my shift.”

“What time do you get off?  I’m working Shorty’s tonight if you want to come round for a drink?”

“Can’t,” Nicole grimaced.  “I’m on doubles all this week.  Got me so messed up trying to catch up on my sleep.”

Waverly couldn’t help it, as Nicole bent down to pick up her gym bag she just had to get a good look at how damn good her ass looked in her lycra workout shorts.  “Yeah, I was wondering where you were,” she breathed absentmindedly.

“What?”  Nicole looked back over her shoulder and frowned as Waverly lifted her eyes and hurriedly looked away.  Naw, she couldn’t have been checking her ass out… right?

“What?”  Waverly grinned as Nicole went back to reaching for her bag and left her with the magnificent view.  “You know, you’re going to have to come round to the bar one day… or meet somewhere else.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.  I still owe you a coffee.”

“Yep, I haven’t forgotten.”

“Anyway…” stepping forwards, Waverly gave a mental ‘what the hell!’ and gave in to the temptation laid out before her and laid a stinging slap down on Nicole’s ass that rang out like a gunshot through the gym.  Winking at the startled expression on Nicole’s face, Waverly tossed her a salute and a smirk and threw a, “see you later, Haughtstuff!” over her shoulder as she darted out of the door with Nicole’s rich laugh following her all the way back to the stairs.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I _**might**_ go back at some stage and add a dream scene in... not sure yet though. This is the trouble when I start trying to write a *short* story, the angst tries to take over.
> 
> Hope I haven't written the other characters too terribly.  
> This is kind of in the timeline between 1x1 and whichever episode it was when they did the raid on the trailer park. Definitely non canon though as really Doc wasn't apart of the BBD team but I just wanted him there while Wynonna was been all Wynonna, while Dolls was been all officious and stick up his ass, and while have Waverly been a little sick and tired of not been allowed out in the field and having herself and Nicole been held back all the time.

Looking around the B.B.D. offices at the mismatched group he was working with, Dolls really couldn’t decide if his appointment to Purgatory was a blessing or if it wasn’t a curse worse than the one Wynonna had hanging over her.  Which wasn’t fair, he knew that as soon as the thought came into his head but… damn it, they could all be so exasperating and disorganized and that grated against all his training.

On the one hand there was Doc Holliday, ‘yes, that Doc Holliday’.  Dependable, as long as their mission coincided with whatever he had going on.  Hell of a shot and a good man to have as backup in a fight.  And currently rolling one of his obnoxious smokes around his mouth while sitting back in his chair, feet up on the desk, eyes covered by his hat like he was about to take a siesta instead of paying attention to what was being said.

And then there was Wynonna.  Beautiful.  Funny.  Sarcastic and irreverent as the day was long.  Driven.  Gorgeous.  Frequently annoying.  Very skilled at putting down revenants… even when he told her not to!  And very intuitive when it came to most things except for her baby sister.  Right then though, Wynonna was busy playing some game or another on her phone with one hand whilst using the other to hold the sprinkle covered donut she was taking bites out of.

Speaking of Waverly.  Dolls had asked her to get them coffee but he could see her when he looked through the window. Perched on the edge of Officer Haught’s desk, feet swinging as she listened to whatever Haught was saying and leaning close to point out something on whatever the Officer was working on.  Her hand strayed, pressing against Haught’s shoulder and Dolls was pretty sure he could make out movement in Waverly’s fingers as she stroked her neck.  It was more than obvious to Dolls, hell to anyone apart from Wynonna, that Waverly Earp was very smitten with Nicole Haught.

The Officer for her part seemed determined to hold a distance between them and just eat Waverly alive with her eyes when she thought no one was looking.  She was smart, had excellent instincts and was fiercely protective, especially of Waverly.  And of all of the people he had met in Purgatory, Dolls felt he had more in common with the young officer for how determined and driven she was when it came to her job and also for how they were both trying to keep their feelings in check around their respective Earp sister that seemed hell bent on tormenting them.

“Finally,” he growled as the youngest Earp slid off the top of Officer Haught’s desk, tucked a manila folder under her arm and picked up the coffee that Dolls felt sure would be long cold.  He caught Nicole’s eye, saw the direction of her gaze and watched as she blushed and looked hurriedly back down at her desk as Waverly glanced back over her shoulder and flashed her a smile.  He caught the end of Waverly’s smile as she turned back and understood completely why the Officer looked so shell-shocked and smitten.

“Heyyy, coffee time!”

“Did you bring donuts?”

“Wynonna, there’s plenty in the box… oh, well there was when I left,” Waverly scowled at Wynonna as she spun the remains of the last donut on her finger and nearly sent it flying across the room.  “Wynonna, I was saving that one for… someone!”

“Wondered why you had it hidden away in your purse,” Wynonna smirked unrepentantly.  “Hey, why are saving donuts for Champ?  Thought you’d broken up with his sorry ass.”

“I have and it wasn’t for him… it was for… Nicole,” Waverly admitted with a shy smile as she glanced back through the still open door at her lover… well, her hopefully soon to be lover… in real life… oh it was so confusing sometimes trying to keep track of which part or their relationship was where even though, unfortunately, naked Nicole meant dream walking!

“For Nicole!?  Why are you giving my sugary goodness away to the local flatfootssss… flat feets?  Cops?”

“Wynonna!”

Before Waverly could turn his meeting into an episode of Springer, Dolls slammed the door and stepped up between the two women.  “If you’re done fighting over donuts can we please get back to what we’re supposed to be doing?”

“Okay, but just so you know, Dolls.  I’m the crazy chick with the big ass magic gun and there will never, never, be a time when I don’t think donuts are worth fighting over.”  Winking at him, Wynonna devoured the rest of the donut in one bite.

“Oh!  I forgot to give Nicole her coffee!”

Lifting a finger, Doc pushed his hat back a fraction.  “Well, I’m afraid you’re a mite too late, Darlin’, she already left.”

“People!” Dolls barked as he planted himself before the door to prevent Waverly for making off after Nicole.  “What does anyone know about this Del Rey character?”

“You mean, apart from the fact that he’s a revenant and an evil shitstick that I need to send back down?”

“Yes, Wynonna,” Dolls sighed, his mouth tightening into a thin line.  “Apart from that.”

“Nicole dug this up for me about the trailer park,” tugging the manila folder from under her arm she handed it over to him.  “She said there’s been a lot of complaints about the area.  About Del Rey and others there.  But they’ve been told to keep away.  You should let her help up… she’s super smart.”

“Waverly!  No!  We can’t involve the locals…”

“Locals?  You mean people like me and Wynonna that were born here?  People like Nicole and the rest of the Police that have to go out there not knowing what they’re going up against?  I suppose you’ve never bothered to ask why the Police Department in Purgatory is so understaffed, huh?  Well let me tell you, Agent Dolls, it’s because of exactly that reason!  They go missing and it’s just assumed the job was too much and they moved away!  She!  They deserve to know the truth and not end up getting caught in the crossfire while cleaning up after Black Badge!”

Stepping back, Dolls looked down at Waverly as she poked at his chest with a sharp pointed finger and looked every bit as threatening and riled up as he’d ever seen Wynonna when she was brandishing Peace Maker.  No, actually, he decided, Waverly was even scarier as she was moving him backwards using an anger and frustration that had remained veiled until then and without a weapon in hand.

Dolls looked over Waverly’s short frame.  He really wasn’t sure why he had thought he would get backup from either Wynonna or Doc but any hope of that was dashed as she saw the thoroughly impressed look on Wynonna’s face as she smirked at his obvious discomfort and took in the way Doc had tilted his hat completely out of the way and was paying attention for the first time.

“Waverly,” he spoke quietly, gathering his thoughts as the brunette spitfire stayed puffed up at him for things he felt sure went deeper than keeping the local cops out of the loop.  “My hands are tied on this.  I can ask B.B.D. if we can involve anyone else but they don’t like things getting out of their control.  It gets too messy.”

“Messy?!  Messy!?”

“Dude!  Not good!”  Wynonna shook her head at Dolls as the glass in the door threatened to crack in half as Waverly made her dramatic exit and set the door rattled on its hinges.  “And Waverly is right ya know.  I might be the only one that can send them back to hell, the only one that can use Peace Maker, but we could do with as much help as possible.”

“So you would be happy seeing Waverly go out into the field?”

“Well, I didn’t say that but Waverly is an Earp.  Once she gets something in her head they’ll be no putting her off.”


	8. Chapter 8

Nicole shook her head in bemusement and slowed her cruiser to a crawl as she saw a familiar figure walking determinedly down the side of the snowy back road.  “What in the hell, Waves?” she muttered quietly under her breath.  There was nothing out that far from town for miles and the homestead was in the complete opposite direction from the one she was stomping along in.  And she wasn’t exactly dressed for the frigid weather either… god alone knew how she managed to keep her feet in the heeled boots she had on.

For a second, only a second, Nicole was tempted to turn the siren on to get Waverly’s attention but the brunette looked like she was hugging herself tightly like she was trying not to fall apart.  Or it was just as possible that she was furious.  After the attack by Jack, Waverly had been a rollercoaster of emotions to be around and Nicole felt responsible for not being able to protect Wynonna when they had been attacked.

Rolling down her window, Nicole slowed the car down to Waverly’s pace and huffed as the frigid air filled the car in an instant.  “Waverly, what are you doing?”

“Been alone.  I want to be alone.”

Waverly’s tone was snappy and colder than the subzero temperature outside but Nicole tried not to let it put her off and kept pace with her and she sped up like she could out walk her.  “Alright.  Well, you’ve reached the edge of town so any further out and you’re going to freeze to death.  Just, get in the car,” she urged gently.

“No thank youoooo!”

“I’ve got a Taser… don’t you make me use it.”  Nicole smiled encouragingly as Waverly turned and finally looked at her through the window for so long that Nicole was afraid that she was going to have to try and subdue Waverly… which would have meant trouble from Wynonna.  But finally Waverly relented and moved around to the passenger side with a huff.

The road they were on was quiet but Nicole drove on a ways until she could pull over where it was safer before turning off the engine and facing the still tightly wound woman beside her.  “Waves… what’s wrong?  You know you can talk to me.”

What was wrong?  With everything going on, Waverly wasn’t sure if there was anything right.  Even the best decision she had ever made, breaking up with Champ, had led to endless frustrations as everyone in Purgatory seemed determined to call her a fool for losing such a prize!

Dolls, Wynonna, everyone, was so busy protecting her, hiding things from her, it was making her feel like a child instead of a grown woman.

Curtis and Shorty were dead.  Wynonna had nearly died at the hands of the revenant, Jack.  And Nicole, her Nicole, the woman she wanted to get a whole hell of a lot closer to in reality and not just dreams, had died.  And it was all happening because of some stupid curse that she couldn’t tell the other woman about!

Waverly’s life felt like it was spinning out of control.  “Gus is selling Shorty’s.  She acts like she won’t but she is.  And everything is changing around me but it’s all too fast!  Ya know!  It’s like nobody ever asks me if I’m okay with it!  It’s like could everyone stand still for one frickin’ minute!”

Nicole could tell that there was a whole hell of a lot more going on that Waverly wouldn’t or couldn’t talk about so Nicole did all she could and gave her hand a squeeze to reassure her.  “Hey, it’s gonna be okay.”  She pulled back, pressing herself into her seat as Waverly glared at her touch.

“I just screamed at you,” Waverly mumbled, feeling suddenly tired by her tirade.  “You shouldn’t be nice to me.”

“Well ya know I think you’ve just been dating too many shit heads!”

“We’re not dating!”  Waverly regretted the snap in her voice but she was sick of Champ being brought up all the time and had no desire to hear anything from Nicole on the subject.

“I know,” Nicole drew away further, shocked at the accusation that she was trying to lay any claims on her.  “God, Waverly, I would never ask you to be someone you’re not.”

“Good!  Just don’t ask me to be anyone at all.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.  Well, maybe just… friends.”  Friends would help protect Nicole from danger until they got their curse problem out of the way… wouldn’t it?  Girlfriend… say girlfriend, Waverly begged herself, but it was too late and Nicole was reaching for the ignition key.

“Yeah,” Nicole sighed at the rejection.  “Sure, Waverly… whatever you want.”  She gave the key a harder than necessary twist and struggled to keep herself from stomping on the gas.  A hand touched her forearm before she could get the car moving, squeezing gently but firmly enough for her to feel it through the padded jacket.  Nicole looked down at it, convinced she was dreaming but she didn’t dare meet Waverly’s gaze.  She wasn’t sure she could handle any more rejection.

“Nicole,” Waverly squeezed harder, feeling the strength in Nicole’s arm like a tightly wound spring that matched the grip of her hand denting the padding on the steering wheel.

“Yeah?”

“Would you mind taking me somewhere?” Waverly asked quietly.

“Well, I wasn’t about to kick you back into the snow, Waves.  Need a lift back to the homestead?”

“I don’t think I could face it there right now… too many memories since the party.  Haven’t been able to look at a pair of scissors since that.”  And she also hadn’t been able to shake the memories of what had happened to Nicole and Wynonna after that.  Every time she stood on the porch she kept seeing Nicole standing there in a halo of sunlight with that look upon her face that had Waverly’s heart racing at the thought that she might be finally about to remember or act.  That would have been a good memory if it didn’t then shift to Nicole laying in the hospital, broken and battered, berating herself and apologizing for not being able to protect Wynonna.

“Shorty’s?”  Out of the corner of her eye, Nicole saw Waverly give a little shake of her head.  “The station?”

“Oh hell no!  I’m still mad at them right now!”  If Dolls and the rest of the higher-ups at Black Badge would get the sticks out of their asses then maybe Nicole would be better able to protect herself.  Or would she just ride into danger even faster if she heard?  It was an argument Waverly had had with herself many times while trying to work out if Nicole knowing would put her in worse danger or keep her safe.

Nicole couldn’t help the smile that caught the edge of her mouth at the belligerent pout in the young woman’s voice.  “Where then, Waves?  I’m off duty so I can take you anywhere you want to go… just… not a strip joint, okay?” she teased.

“Hey, I hear there’s a couple of good ones around.  I seem to remember everyone raving about a stripped called Aphrodite a while back.”

Nicole chuckled.  “Not my kind of scene.  Went one once with some friends, god knows why but they thought I would like it.  Only thing I discovered was that I actually hate having to knee guys in the nuts just ‘cause they think I’m there to entertain them.”

“The girls didn’t do it for you, huh?”

“Nope, believe it or not, not all lesbians, or unicorns. Like strippers just ‘cause they’re women.”

“Not going to let me forget that, huh?”  Casting a glance up to Nicole’s face, Waverly felt her heart lift at the gentle teasing that was lighting Nicole’s eyes.  That look made Waverly feel like everything would be okay.

“Nope,” Nicole grinned as Waverly’s nose and eyes crinkled at her as she finally relaxed enough to give a genuine smile.  The ‘whole lesbian not a unicorn’ conversation they had stumbled through still had Nicole bemused.  She had wanted to know just what the hell was going on in Purgatory and had asked Waverly.  Unfortunately, Nicole was pretty convinced now that they had been having conversations about two completely different things but at the time she had taken Waverly’s comments all wrong and had just stormed off thinking Waverly was making a joke about her sexuality.  “So, where too, my lady?”

“Your place?”

“What?”  Nicole blinked, half convinced that she was suffering from delayed concussion and just hearing what she was longing to hear from Waverly.

“I mean, if you’re okay with that?  I don’t want to intrude but… I just really don’t want to be alone right now, Nicole.”  She watched Nicole watching her, saw whatever conflict was going on in her mind playing out behind her eyes to make her eyebrows twitch.  The motion made Waverly all too aware of the scar from her attack above her left one.  It was barely even noticeable but it felt like a blow to Waverly’s heart to know that the Earp curse had put it there.  “Please?”

Taking her left hand off the wheel, Nicole placed it over Waverly’s, pressing it against her arm.  “Of course it’s okay, Waverly.  You’ll have to get past Jane though.”

“Jane?” Waverly felt a small wave of jealousy from another woman’s name coming from Nicole’s mouth but the look on her face calmed her.

“Calamity Jane, my cat.  She doesn’t take to many people but she had a particular dislike of men so you should be okay,” she winked.  “Don’t think Nedley’s forgiven her yet after she attacked his leg while I was in the hospital.  Don’t worry though, I’m sure she’ll love you…” as much as I do, Nicole added silently.

Setting the cruiser in motion and back in the direction of Purgatory, Nicole tried to compose herself as Waverly leaned against her shoulder and ran the tip of a finger in idle patterns across her pant leg just above her knee.  It was doing nothing to soothe Nicole but Waverly’s breathing relaxed more and more and her body grew heavier against Nicole until she relaxed into sleep.

As she pulled up outside her home, Nicole found herself reluctant to disturb Waverly but she needed to get her into the warmth before the car cooled too much and her muscles stiffened.  Turning, she ran a finger along the softness of Waverly’s stubborn jaw.  “Hey there, sleepy.”

Blinking open her eyes, Waverly smiled up into the warmth of Nicole’s brown eyes as she wrapped a finger up in a strand of silky red hair that had managed to escape the tight French braid.  “Hey, baby.”  She grinned at the gentle reminder of waking Nicole in the gym.  Her breath hitched as Nicole’s eyes dropped to her mouth and grew dark and heated.  Waverly ached to feel the warmth of Nicole’s mouth against her own she felt the ache in her bones but Nicole drew back, leaving Waverly feeling bereft.

“Come on Waves, let’s get inside before it gets cold out here.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well hello, Calamity Jane <3
> 
> Note... lately when I've been writing I tend to have First Move by Stacey on...
> 
> Choosin' all my words carefully  
> Tryin' to get a read when you stare at me  
> How did I get here? What did you say, dear?  
> Talk to me
> 
> 'Cause all I wanted to do was sit beside you  
> And now all I want you to do is make the first move  
> Oh, I got you where I want you  
> And, God, I want you to make the first move
> 
> Now it's gettin' late and I should go  
> I was too afraid to let you know  
> Then when you said, "come with me,"  
> I stopped breathin'

Sliding from Nicole’s cruiser, Waverly shivered in the cold and wrapped her far too thin coat around herself tighter.  She wasn’t really sure though if she was cold because of the weather or from Nicole drawing away.  That soft dimpled smile was back in place though as Nicole rounded the car and came to her side.

“Know you don’t need my help but… well, I haven’t been in much to do more than feed Calamity so the path might be icy so just grab hold if you need to.”

“My hero.”

Nicole wondered if she was being mocked again but this was Waverly, not Wynonna and as Nicole looked down all she got was a glimpse of a soft and very genuine smile as a hand found a place in the crook of her elbow.  Their bodies bumped together as they walked and slid their way to the front door, supporting each other.  Nicole felt giddy from all the contact and Waverly’s laughter by the time they reached the weathered door.

She paused with the key in the lock.  “Waves?”

“Hmm?”  Pausing in her exploration of Nicole’s bicep, Waverly glance up into Nicole’s suddenly nervous face.

“Erm, if- if you ever feel the need for somewhere to bolt too… even if I’m on duty… you’re always welcome to come round and crash here,” she blushed.  “There’s a spare key under the wall planter there you could take… or, ya know, just use when you want to… if you want to.”

Cupping Nicole’s flushed face, Waverly rose up on tiptoes and brushed a kiss across her cheek.  “That’s really sweet,” she smiled gratefully.  Sweet and more than a little bit sexy that she was willing to just let her into her home like that.

As Nicole opened the door and stepped aside to let her in first, Waverly looked around eagerly, breathing in the lingering scent of Nicole in the air and feeling herself relax as she took in the calming light blue / grey décor.  She wasn’t sure what she would have come up with in her own mind when thinking about where Nicole lived when she was away from the station and all the responsibility of being one of the very few cops in Purgatory but what she was seeing was perfect.  “Did you decorate?”

Taking off her Stetson and Jacket, Nicole hung them on the coatrack near the door and hung Waverly’s things next to them as she took them off.  It felt strangely right, seeing their things together like that.  “The furniture was already here but I painted and brought a few things.”  Nicole’s heart did a little flip as she watched Waverly walking around her home, her delicate fingers running over everything.

“Well… hello there,” Waverly eyed the big floofy light ginger cat nervously as she watched her from the back of the couch with wide golden green eyes.  Seeing her owner, the cat jumped down and gave Waverly a positively regal glare as she strutted by with her tail raised high and marched on through to where Waverly could only assume the kitchen was.  “Whew, not sure if that went well or not,” she chuckled slightly.

“Well,” Nicole grinned, “you’ve still got all your limbs intact and there’s no blood.  I’m surprised Nedley didn’t draw his gun on her with the scars she left him.”

Following Nicole into her kitchen, Waverly eyed the big cat nervously as it sat in judgment of her for a moment before butting her head against Nicole’s fingers and releasing a thunderous purr.  “She was probably just missing you.”

“Apparently she’s always hated men.”

“You haven’t had her from a kitten then?”

“Shelter.  Well, seemed fair, she was there because I found her one day.  Couldn’t keep her at the Academy so I took her in thinking she would find a home easily.  Before I moved here I decided to bring something with me for company and she was still there… just about.  A couple more hours and they were going to put her down because she was unadoptable.”  Nicole smiled as Waverly cautiously reached out a hand to Calamity, holding her fingers still so her cat could make the first move.  Calamity eyed the fingers, stretched out her head and cautiously sniffed at them, making Waverly catch her lip between her teeth nervously.  “Feel like taking a shot at feeding her while I grab a quick shower?  You don’t have to but you’ll be fine,” she encouraged at Waverly shot her look in her direction.

“Go… we’ll be okay,” Waverly finally croaked out after giving her head a shake to try and dislodge the thought of Nicole taking a shower… and of joining her in it.

“I won’t be long but help yourself to a drink or something to eat if you want.  Oh,” pausing in the doorway she glanced back.  “Don’t let her fool you either, she only gets one pouch of food.”

Nicole couldn’t help but stand there a while longer, watching as Waverly Earp bustled about her kitchen, talking to Calamity and humming softly.  She moved around, opening cupboards and drawers and finding things like she had been in there a million times before.  Nicole was positive she could see that exact same scene played out a million times and never tire of it.

“I thought you were going to take a shower?”  Waverly smiled, rubbing Calamity under the chin as her owner blushed and ran from the room.  “Hmm, what do you think C.J… maybe I should have asked if she needed any help?”


	10. Chapter 10

“Knew you two would get along.”

Waverly’s fingers stilled in Calamity’s soft fur, her heart swelling as she glanced to her left just as she had a life time before at Shorty’s and found Nicole in the exact same pose with her shoulder propped against the door as she smiled at her.  Waverly could remember every detail of how Nicole had looked that day but the reality of Nicole out of uniform was even more enticing.  Especially with how her unbound hair spilled down around the collar or her bright blue shirt in a riot of loose curls.

Nicole couldn’t help but smile, her eyes drinking in every detail of Waverly sitting on her couch with her usually stranger shy cat purring away loudly enough to be heard across the room curled up in her lap.  A lap that was covered by the thickest of Nicole’s thick blankets.  Hazel eyes twinkling in the light from the fire, Waverly swished the edge of the blanket back and made Nicole’s heart do a little flip in her chest as she patted the couch at her side in invitation.  Raking a hand through her hair, Nicole desperately tried to regain her composure and not grin too much like a love struck idiot as she took Waverly up on her offer.

“You need some more throw cushions,” Waverly muttered as she sacrificed one of the ones she had gathered around her so Nicole could lean back more comfortably.  She was so temptingly close, her body a solid warmth against her side as Waverly tucked the blanket back around them both.

“I do?” Nicole looked at the five Waverly was hoarding into a nest the other side of her.

“Hmmhmm, I love them.  I hope you’re hungry, I kind of got carried away while you were showering.”  Waverly gestured to the plates of food on the coffee table before them and smiled happily as Nicole’s stomach answered for her with a low growl that had the redhead laughing at herself.  “I love to cook but it’s boring cooking for one and Wynonna is all about the whiskey and donuts most of the time,” Waverly explained with a small smile as she handed a plate full to Nicole.  She sat back for a moment, watching the pleasure on Nicole’s face as she tasted it before tucking into some herself.  She had been so upset and worried since the Ripper Revenant that she hadn’t been bothering to eat.  With Nicole at her side though she found her appetite returning and peace settling over her after their hunger had been sated and they sat back to talk and watch ridiculous shows on TV.

It was just such a normal thing to do and yet so utterly special given who she was sitting next to and everything that was happening around them with the Curse and the Revenants making every day more dangerous than it should be.  Laying her head against the pillow of Nicole’s shoulder, Waverly ran her hand up and down Nicole’s arm, feeling the gentle strength in her.  Nicole’s breathing stopped as Waverly took advantage of their position and the blanket hiding her actions and slipped their hands together.

Swallowing nervously, Nicole glanced down, wondering if Waverly hadn’t drifted off to sleep.  One thing Nicole had found out quickly with Waverly was that she was a very tactile person.  A fact that played constant hell with Nicole’s peace of mind with even the smallest contact between them.  Every day Nicole left her house, full of promises to herself to keep some distance between them and then Waverly would turn up somewhere and Nicole’s resolve flew out the window.

As tactile as Waverly was though, Nicole didn’t believe she was the kind to make contact in such a way consciously.  It was too intimate, the kind of touch lovers shared.  Not friends.  God, that word hurt more than it should after she had been trying to convince herself for so long that being friends with Waverly Earp was a good thing and that she could be happy with only that.

“You don’t have to work tonight do you?”

Nicole started a little.  She had been so convinced that Waverly had to be sleep snuggling that it took a moment for her to compose herself.  A moment that was obviously too long for Waverly as she tilted her head to look up at her and Nicole got caught up in her eyes.  “Erm, work?  Oh no, no work.  Nedley took pity on me after the whole… well after the hospital,” she corrected herself before the sadness could take root in Waverly’s eyes.  “I’m still struggling to get to sleep when I should be but now I’m cleared for work again I’m back on day shifts.”

Waverly grinned in anticipation knowing that meant they could finally be at the station at the same time and, more importantly, they would be asleep at the same time.  As much as she wanted her actually in her bed, Waverly had found that she had missed their night time romps.  There, with all barriers down, she felt freer in her actions and knew how to seduce Nicole.  Awake, she found herself to be stuttering and unsure and awake, Nicole was far too tightly wound and noble.

“I’m glad,” gently cupping Nicole’s jaw, Waverly kissed the corner of her mouth.  Nicole’s breathing hitched and her hand fluttered in hers but Waverly felt emboldened by the lack of rejection.  “I’ve missed seeing you around the station,” she whispered against the warmth of Nicole’s mouth as they stirred beneath hers and hesitantly deepened the contact ever so slightly between them.

“Waverly?  What are you doing?”  Nicole whispered softly, trying to create some distance between them to think.  The wry smirk and teasing pout that crossed Waverly’s lips made Nicole blush and want to slap her own forehead for being dumb even though ‘What the hell!?’ seemed like a perfectly legitimate question.

“I must need to practice my kissing some more,” Waverly teased.

“Trust me, you don’t need any practice, your kisses are, MhhMmmm…” her words got lost under the mouth locked on to hers as Waverly pounced and swung herself to straddle her lap.  “Waves…” grabbing her by the upper arms, Nicole levered her back, “what about, Champ?”


	11. Chapter 11

Waverly sat back on her heel and frowned down at Nicole as she tried to work out why she would bring him up.

“Remember, Champ, your boy-man?”

“But, we’re not dating?”  Waverly almost pounced to claim Nicole’s lips again but she just couldn’t help but watch the adorableness that was her lovers face as she glanced off to the side briefly in thought, a frown puckering her brow above the bridge of her nose as she ran things through her head.  From the direction of her eyes, Waverly knew from studying body language that she was looking into the past.  Tilting her head, Waverly watched as Nicole’s eyes regained focus and shot back to hers with a soft ‘Oh’ puckering her lips.  “Everything got kind of busy and I thought you would have heard about it around town long ago.”

“Waverly,” Nicole chuckled wryly.  “I’m a stranger in a small town, a woman, a cop… a rookie flatfoot,” she grimaced as Wynonna’s gibe came out.  “I’m ginger and a lesbian… pick any one of those and some people find it reason enough not to talk to me… add them all together and no one tells me shit.”  Sometimes she felt like she had been on the outside her whole life so she tried not to let it hurt her but basically… it was the worst.

“Tell me who and I’ll kick their asses!”

If you did that, Waves I would either have to arrest you to save them, or you would be so busy I would never… get to… see you,” Nicole’s voice trailed off, the heat and need in Waverly’s eyes as she looked at her with passionate intensity making the sparks of need Nicole had been trying to stamp out for too damn long for Waverly suddenly flame out of control.

Swallowing Nicole’s breathy whimper of need as it burst against her mouth, Waverly pushed Nicole back against the arm of the couch and slid into the cradle of her thighs.  Or at least she tried too but Nicole’s hands had fallen to her waist and stilled the almost frantic thrust of her hips as she curled against her.  “Please, Nicole… I want you, don’t go all noble on me now!”

“You… want me?”

Waverly stilled at the uncertainty in Nicole’s quiet voice.  “Yes, yes I do.  Since the moment we met.  I love our friendship but… Nicole, I don’t want to be friends with you… not like that anyway.  I want more.  I want you!”  Waverly flapped her hands around, feeling like a babbling idiot as Nicole gave her that smile that had Waverly’s insides growing molten at the promise in them.  “Please, Nicole, feel free to jump in and help me out here ‘cause I really, really, don’t know what I’m doing.”

“Oh, I’m sure you do,” Nicole smiled at the younger woman with soft encouragement while holding a part of herself in check in case it all became too much and Waverly changed her mind.

Dream walking was easy in comparison to having Nicole looking at her like that.  “Maybe I should just stop talking.”

“See, you’re getting better at this already.”  Rising up on her elbows, Nicole tried to claim Waverly’s mouth again but Waverly pulled back slightly, keeping the distance between them.  The action alone would have made Nicole back off but the look in Waverly’s eyes and etched upon her face was one of pure need.

“Maybe you should stop talking too.”

“Maybe you should make me,” Nicole challenged her softly, more than ready to give Waverly the lead.

Accepting Nicole’s challenge, Waverly claimed the softness of her mouth.  She had been more than a little bit worried that she would be uncertain and clumsy outside of their dreams, that she wouldn’t be good enough.  All those fears melted with each kiss given and returned with growing hunger and need.  She could sense Nicole’s tightly wound control weakening and finally snapping as she ran the tip of her tongue across the swell of Nicole’s lips and dipped inside.

Surging up, Nicole pushed Waverly back, pinning her amongst the nest of throw cushions.  Hand sweeping along Waverly’s leg, Nicole hooked the back of her knee, bringing it up to lay against her waist as she pressed closer.  Moaning deep in her throat, Nicole kissed along the side of Waverly’s throat and jaw.  Thumb brushing across Waverly’s chin, Nicole gentled her touch again… or tried to.  Waverly Earp was laying beneath her, her body willingly an eagerly accepting the weight of hers as they kissed and touched.

Breathing heavily, Nicole touched foreheads with Waverly, her mind ticking over a little too much as she tried to work out how everything felt like it had gone from zero to a hundred in a heartbeat between them and yet could feel so right.  For gods sake, until that moment the only thing they had shared until then were looks.  Looks which meant everything to Nicole but as much as she was enjoying her new position… especially with the way Waverly was running her foot up and down her leg and threading fingers through her hair, Nicole couldn’t help the happiness stealing, nagging voice that was wondering if Waverly wasn’t using her as a bandaid against her breakup with Champ.  Though, Nicole thought, if she kept moving her hips up into her like that, she wasn’t sure if she would care either way as long as she got to experience it again!

“Wait!  Waverly!  Wait!”  Nicole’s body screamed at her in frustration for the breathlessly mumbled words that spilled from her mouth as she stilled the hands that were tugging impatiently on her clothing.  Breathing hard, her hips unconsciously circling into the warmth and promise of Waverly’s, Nicole pinned her hands beneath her own.  The pain and uncertainty in Waverly’s eyes were heartbreaking but she had to be sure.  “Are- are you sure?”

The breathiness of Nicole’s voice, that little slither warring with the heat that told Waverly her dreamtime lover was scared of being hurt pierced through Waverly’s own fears and confusion.  Sliding her hands from under Nicole’s, Waverly ran them up Nicole’s sides, her fingertips caressing the planes of her back in a way she knew turned the redhead on in chunks when they met in their dreams.  Waverly was delighted to find that it worked just as well when Nicole was awake too and made her eager to find out what else did as heat flooded Nicole’s eyes, rendering them almost black with desire.  It set Waverly even more on fire and had her hips canting up in need.

Wrapping her legs around Nicole, Waverly pulled her closer and wrapped her fingers up in the tumble of red hair falling around her face.  Gathering it back, she tugged gently, easing Nicole’s head back to expose the long line of her throat to her kisses.  “I am very, very sure that I want you, Nicole Haught.  Feels like I’ve been waiting years for this moment and I don’t want to wait any more.”

Capturing Nicole’s mouth with her own, Waverly drank down the noise that was part laugh and part sob of relief that spilled into her mouth.

“I want you too, Waverly Earp.  But… would you mind waiting a bit longer… just a minute!”  She quickly got in as she felt Waverly stiffen under her and saw a belligerent look sliding into her eyes.

The woman was all sweetness and smiles on the surface but lord, the passion that bubbled beneath that was blistering when she got riled up and Nicole didn’t want her riled up… not in anger anyway.  Cupping Waverly’s chin, Nicole brushed a thumb across her lips and gently stroked away the stiffness in them.

“I don’t want our first time to be all squashed up on the couch with Calamity likely to pounce on us at any moment.”  Nicole flicked her eyes to the cat who was sitting on the table next to their empty plate, tail flicking slowly as she watched them.  Turning her gaze completely to the woman beneath her, Nicole felt her heart and body respond to the feel of her and the seductive look in her eyes.  “I want to take you to my room, to my bed, where we can stretch out more comfortably and I can make love to you properly, baby.”


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Swear, I wasn't going to do this but... well I'm kind of feeling a touch evil... not Tentacle evil ;) My muses are still doing battle trying to decide who's going to win between Waverly need for 'HAUGHT NOW!' and Nicole's protective, 'must go slow and gentle' side.
> 
> So... in evil tease mode I'm going to break the scene up... and I swear, Wynonna is not going to try butting in.

Nicole wasn’t really sure how they made it to her bedroom.  All she could remember was the feel and taste of Waverly’s lips caressing hers, warm hands tugging on her clothing, sliding beneath to send shockwaves of anticipation racing through her body.

If there was any resistance within her, any desire to ‘do the right thing’ it melted away as she looked into Waverly’s eyes and saw the same desire and absolute certainty within.  Nicole didn’t think anyone had ever looked at her like that before… at least not outside of her dreams.

The thought made her stumble slightly, her head filling with the memories of night filled with throaty moans and shadowy touches that clashed with the reality of Waverly in front of her, her light brunette hair tumbling in soft waves around her beautiful face, her eyes alight with anticipation as her fingers worked on the buttons of her blouse until she pushed the fabric aside to expose the upper swell of her breasts above her purple bra.

Waverly breathed in the sight and feel, the rasps of the lace trimming on the Officer’s unexpectedly sexy bra contrasting with the warmth and softness of the exposed skin above the cups as her fingers grazed across Nicole as she pushed aside her blouse.  Nicole’s head dropped back, a small sound of husky delight falling from her lips at Waverly’s touch.

In contrast to the hurried tugging of Nicole’s long fingers on her shirt, the mouth that caressed hers with as light and soft as a feather, teasing Waverly’s senses to breaking point.  The muscles of her abdomen quivered beneath the tips of her fingers as they dragged down to work upon the buckle of her belt.  Nicole’s response to the feel and sound of her leather belt dragging through the loops, the gasp against her mouth and darkening of her eyes, was like an explosion within Waverly.

Their kiss deepened but stayed teasing and light.  So hot and sensual and so damn frustrating at the same time.  They hadn’t even made it to the bed or managed to undress and Waverly’s body was spinning out of control with need like it never had before.

When they met in dreams, even though she never slept naked, she liked being warm too much for that, usually they came together already naked or their clothing just vanished beneath their touch.  This… the stripping of clothes, just the sight of each bit of skin slowly revealed was a delightful torment that made Waverly want to go as slow as possible and just rip and throw until clothing was hanging from every fixture and fitting in the room all at the same time.

Every time she felt the need to rush Nicole though, the redhead gentled her kiss further.  She could tell how much it was killing her to do so but she refused to let either of them hurry their first time.  Waverly was okay with that though… mostly.

After all, how many nights had she basically done the same thing to Nicole.  Built her up with her knowledge of just where to touch to illicit every gasp and moan, driven her crazy, and then calmed her down over and over so she could drag every second out with her before anything woke her.  It made Waverly wonder… if Nicole knew, would it loosen her restraints or would she pull back and hate her for all the teasing?

Waverly gasped as brushing the tip of her tongue across Nicole’s broke Nicole’s fierce restraint a little more and Waverly found herself lifted off the ground.  Gazing down into her eyes, Waverly felt small and protected and at the same time even more turned on by Nicole’s easy strength.  Cupping the back of Nicole’s neck she moaned at the friction between her thighs as every step Nicole took towards the bed pressed her abdomen against her.

The dimples in Nicole’s cheeks flashed as she smiled knowingly.  Her nose brushed against the length of Waverly’s, the sweet gentleness of even that made her heart soar.  The soaring turned to a heavy beat of anticipation through her body as Nicole lowered her slowly until her back touched the mattress.


	13. Chapter 13

Fingers tangling in the softness of Nicole’s red hair, Waverly pulled her closer and raised up to meet her.  Tilting her head, she brushed their lips together in a deep, needy kiss.  The feel of Nicole pressed against her was a delight but all the clothes was becoming an annoyance she wanted rid of so she could enjoy the body beneath.

Three year of delight and torment, of searching hopelessly for a woman that could have been thousands of miles away was so close to being at an end she could taste it in the sweetness of the mouth upon hers and the hot slide of tongue caressing hers.

Levering herself back, Nicole chuckled in breathless wonder as she found Waverly’s hands already working to remove her blouse before she could do it.  She was everywhere at once, sending Nicole’s good intentions flying out the window with each brush of fingers and light rake of nails down her back.

Somehow, she wasn’t even sure how, Nicole managed to remove Waverly’s top but before she could enjoy the view, Waverly ran a trail of fire down the side of her throat with her lips and tongue that had Nicole collapsing back into the cradle of Waverly’s body as she latched on to a point just below her ear with a gentle nibble of teeth and a deep swipe of her tongue that made Nicole’s brain switch off in delight.

Nicole could hear the room filling with the sounds of thick, needy moans.  She knew they were being wrung from deep within her soul and ripped from her throat by the beauty beneath her, even though she wasn’t even aware of making them.  “Waverly,” she whimpered into the mouth teasing hers.  She needed to slow them down.  Needed to regain control and make it more pleasurable for Waverly.

Nicole felt like she was moving in slow motion, drugged by her own desires and half a step behind Waverly’s determined actions that had her bra unfastened and her pants pushed half way down over her ass before Nicole even realised Waverly was moving.  “Waves,” Nicole muttered breathlessly as Waverly proved just how agile she was by somehow managing to wiggle and push her pants down and off using her feet.  “Wait,” the solid sound of her pants weighed down by her belt hitting the floor beside her bed was one of the most erotic things, Nicole felt she had ever heard.  It whipped across her senses, tightening her already strung out body further with the knowledge that it was one less barrier between them.  “Slow down, baby.”

“I don’t want to.”  Setting her nails into Nicole’s back, Waverly raked a teasing trail down across Nicole’s slender frame, finding all the places along her spine and hips that made her writhe and shiver as she collapsed further, her hair raining down in a fragrant curtain of red across Waverly’s face.  Nicole’s lips caressed her jaw, kittenish mewls teasing Waverly’s ear, bursting into a throaty moan as Waverly dragged her nails across the firmness of her lovers ass until Nicole’s hips rose and fell against hers in a uncontrolled dance of pleasure.

“Waves…” Nicole could hear the plea for mercy, for help in controlling her body, in her voice.  Only there was no mercy within Waverly right then.

“I want this, Nicole!”  Grabbing tighter before Nicole could draw back, Waverly rocked up, angling her hips just right.  “I want you… I want you right now.  Want you to find your pleasure in me,” Waverly caught her lips between her teeth, hoping her girlfriend would get her meaning so she wouldn’t have to find more explicit ones as when it came to the bedroom she was more action than words.

“Are you ssss… Ohhhh… fuuuuuck…”

Shifting her body, Waverly slid her leg between Nicole’s and moved, pressing her thigh up into the heat of Nicole’s body.  Nicole’s response, the thickly moaned cuss and the slap of her hand against the bed beside Waverly’s head as her fingers latched on to the sheets, bunching the fabric in a fierce grip as her hips bucked, told Waverly she’d won.

Nicole’s mouth sought hers, her tongue swirled around her mouth, deep and searching in that ‘I want to crawl inside you’ way Waverly had last felt in their dreams.  It was hot and hungry but still gentle in that way Waverly knew was just Nicole.  Even when she gave in she still had to be in control and Waverly didn’t want that.

Capturing Nicole’s nimble tongue, Waverly sucked on it hard, drawing it in and out of her mouth like she was sucking on a candy cane.  Nicole’s whole body shuddered, a soft keening wail filling Waverly’s mouth as her lover came undone and she felt the hot rush of wetness coating her thigh where Nicole spasmed and jerked against her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  
> 
> **And that was with just one of them naked... ;)**  
> 


	14. Chapter 14

Grinning in satisfaction, Waverly rolled Nicole’s still twitching body over.  Her lover gasped and moaned, her body bowing up underneath her as she straddled her slender waist.  Nicole’s sex drunk glazed eyes and dimpled smile as she breathed a ‘wow’ just set Waverly grinning more.

Waverly loved to see her like that, to know she had the power to affect her so deeply even outside of their dreams.  It was the most perfect thing ever to be able to do what she wanted, to be as rough or as gentle as they desired and not have Nicole vanish from within her arms at a frustrating moment.

Nicole slid her hands up along Waverly’s thighs where they were braced either side of her.  She wanted to push that damn sexy, tight as hell, short skirt further out of the way.  It was nearly bunched up to the point it was a belt but it was still in the way.  Removing it would have meant getting Waverly to move and Nicole wasn’t sure if she was ready for more sensations right then, not with how over sensitized she was feeling.  And, more importantly, even though she wanted nothing more than to see all of Waverly, Nicole didn’t want to pressure her into getting naked if she wasn’t ready for that step.  Yeah, she wore revealing clothing but that was her choice to wear it just as when to remove it was and Nicole wasn’t about to assume anything.

As her fingers brushed against the wetness she had left upon Waverly’s thigh, Nicole just couldn’t help the wave of heat that rushed into her face at the knowing smile on Waverly’s face.  Nicole had had lovers before, granted not many as she had been too focussed on becoming a cop and even in the big city the dating pool had been limited, but there was just something about Waverly Earp that made her feel like she was playing catch up with how well the younger woman had known just how to drive her crazy.  Nicole couldn’t think of one woman she had been with that had discovered her love for having her tongue sucked like that… at least… not outside of her dreams anyway and that was her imagination so it didn’t count.  Did it?

Waverly watched the thoughts passing behind Nicole’s eyes finding expression in the little quirk and creasing between her brows.  It was as adorable as ever but she didn’t want her thinking yet when there were so many other, more pleasurable things they could be doing.

Reaching behind herself, Waverly unhooked her bra and tried not to smirk too much as Nicole’s brown eyes snapped into focus and locked upon her body at the motion.  Tormenting her, Waverly held her arm across her front and stopped her bra from dropping.  “Could you?” she gestured down to her skirt.  Warm hands skimmed around, caressing as they searched for and found the fastening in the back.  Waverly kept her eyes upon Nicole’s, delighting in how expressive they were and just how hot and hungry they could get as the room was filled with the gentle but body shakingly explosive sound of her zipper parting.

Lowering her arm, Waverly slowly let her bra drop and slid it out of the way.  Nicole’s hips rose again, her breathing growing beautifully ragged at the slow reveal as she looked at her in a way that made Waverly feel even more loved and desired than she could have thought possible.  Placing a hand to Nicole’s chest, Waverly pushed her back down as she started to rise up.  “Not yet,” she grinned at the look of query and frustration in her brown eyes.  “Don’t move.  Ahh,” she warned, smirking above her raised finger as Nicole rose up on an elbow and tried to reach for her as she shimmied off the bed.

She had wanted to tease and torment, to put on a show of shimmying out of the rest of her clothing.  But the longing in Nicole’s eyes matched her own need and she couldn’t wait any longer to feel their flesh together with nothing to get in the way.  Not that her speed wasn’t appreciated if Nicole’s gasped laugh of delight was anything to go by as Waverly hopped back onto the bed.  Landed astride Nicole’s waist again, Waverly’s head fell back in pleasure as she wiggled into position.  Just the feel of her, her body silky soft but strong, the way their soft curls brushed together, it all had Waverly poised right on the edge, her body stuttering in delight.

“You are so beautiful, Waves.”  The moonlight through the bedroom window painted Waverly’s body with its gentle glow and Nicole grew jealous of its touch upon her girlfriend.  Hands sliding up over the firm planes of Waverly’s abdomen, Nicole pressed her thumbs into muscles and played her fingers over her rib before finally replacing moonlight with her hands as she cupped the lush fullness of Waverly’s breasts.

“Need to cum, baby?” Nicole could tell she was close by the way she was holding herself still, her breathing ragged as she fought against the need to move but been afraid to move in case it lessened the intensity of what she was feeling.  A softly panted moan was Waverly’s reply.  The moan fell to a whimper as Nicole moved her hand down and gently teased through her short curls.  Matching her touch to Waverly’s breathing, Nicole gently swirled her finger around and around her swollen bundle of nerves, increasing the pressure only when Waverly’s hips started to move and dance with her touch.

Nicole wanted to move, wanted to taste Waverly’s breasts and capture all the sounds tumbling from her mouth as she soared towards her orgasm.  More than anything though she wanted to watch as she fell apart in under her touch so she followed the lead of Waverly’s body and helped her climb until she tumbled over the edge and fell into her arms.

Wrapping her arms around the delight that was Waverly’s body, Nicole gently stroked her hair and body as she came down from her high.  Tilting her chin with a fingertip, she kissed her gently all over her face before tasting from her mouth.

Fingers trembling, Waverly tucked a strand of red back behind Nicole’s ear and snuggled closer to the heat of her.  She felt alive and yet so utterly exhausted that she could barely keep her eyes open.  “Had plans… so many plans for years.  Have I mentioned I’m a planner?  Now I can’t keep my eyes open.”

 ** _Years?_**   “It’s okay, Waves,” Nicole lulled gently at Waverly’s mumbled ramblings against her shoulder, “sleep.  We’ve got all night,” and Nicole was hoping much longer than that.

“But I’m afraid you’ll vanish again.”

 _ **Again?**  _  “I’m not going anywhere, baby.  As long as you want me, I’ll be right with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure if it's a good or bad thing for the author to admit but... I need a cold shower or two now.
> 
> PS. if you see any mistakes, please let me know. It was a difficult chapter to write (much blushing on my part) and it stalled for so long and then it felt like it rushed to get to the end.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry folks... time to torment the lovers before I wind this down ;)
> 
> Set kind of in the time where Nicole knew darn well things were weird but the scooby gang were been secretive, as are Nicole and Waverly (though everyone knows), and Wynonna is as oblivious as always.

Doc was old fashioned.  Even if he hadn’t spent the past one hundred years stuck in the bottom of a well he had the feeling he could still be considered so.  But because of all those years locked in the dark he was still catching up on things.  He was trying though.  Got himself a car with one of those fancy cassette players and a phone he could carry everywhere… though he was still struggling with the voicemail thingamajig… much to Wynonna’s continued exasperation.

For the longest time he had thought that one of those convoluted hashtags he kept hearing about was some kind of a disease.  A thought he still held to be true when everyone kept throwing the word around like it was supposed to mean a damn.  Waverly had tried to explain it all to him but she had talked fast and had gotten distracted when the Officer she was mighty smitten with had walked into Shorty’s.

He had confronted said Officer the next day… about hashtags, not her feelings for Waverly.  That, Doc felt, was entirely their business.  Nicole hadn’t been much help though as when confronted with the question that had been plaguing him ever since he had overheard the other two deputies.  “What in tarnation does hashtag oblivious Wynonna, hashtag classic Wynonna and hashtag heart eyes mean, and why ever are they ‘trending’?”

Nicole had looked at him in bewilderment and dawning fear and bolted, throwing a hurriedly hissed, “Oh no!  Not touching that!” and “for god’s sake, Henry, don’t say anything to Wynonna!”

Doc was still fuzzy on the whole hashtag thing but the oblivious Wynonna came to mind clearly whenever she blundered into a room and completely missed the tentative, loving looks her sister and Nicole were giving each other.  He wasn’t sure if it was because poor Wynonna just had so much on her plate with being the Heir and having to deal with revenants almost daily, or if she was just unwilling to see Waverly as being anything other than a little sister since she had broken it off with her beau, a child that Doc was glad to see to gone from Waverly’s life almost as much as Wynonna was.

“Waverly Earp… what in the tarnation are all these books you are reading so diligently?”  Expecting them to be a part of their latest case, Doc moved a couple of the dusty tomes from a stack on Waverly’s desk, reading the titles before creating a new pile so as not to disrupt the young woman’s system too much.

“The Art if Dreams… Walking… Elated Dreams… Spirit…”  Each one seemed to be a variation on the same subject, dream walking.”  Looking at her from under the brim of his hat, he tipped it back with a finger and studied her further as she got a distinctly guilty look upon her face and her eyes darted from his towards the door.

“It’s just… research, Doc.”

“Are you having problems with your dreams, Waverly?”  More guilt in those eyes and writ upon that expressive face as a familiar shaped shadow moved past the windows.  “Or is it someone in them?”

“Doc!” Waverly whispered urgently, trying to shush him as the shadow stopped and a knock came upon the door.

At Deputy Marshall Dolls’ brusque order to do so, Officer Haught entered.  Her professional mask, as usual, slipped almost instantly into a warm smile that lit her face and the room as her eyes sought for and found Waverly Earp.  That they were lovers was more than obvious to anyone that cared to look and see the way they shone around each other.  And also to anyone that had seen they walking into the station looking flustered and drunk on hurried kisses that left them quickly straightening hair and clothing most mornings.

“Hey, we just had something unusual come over the wire if you’re interested?”

Doc studied her, watched the way her eyes did a quick sweep of the room.  She was a smart one and he knew that even though her eyes quickly made their way back to the youngest Earp, she had absorbed every detail, probably more than Dolls would have liked seeing as he was so damn determined to keep Nicole and everyone else away.

Nicole was an excellent Officer and Doc felt sure she would make a fine addition to their team.  Waverly though seemed hell bent on protecting Nicole from the literal demons they faced.  Wynonna, well that frustratingly beautiful Earp liked the young Officer well enough most of the time but still had a distrust of the law in general that led to Wynonna poking at Nicole with sharp words more often than not.  And Dolls… well Doc was pretty sure the man truly was a dick but he was a dick with dark secrets and an agenda that Doc didn’t trust.

“Thank you, Officer Haught.  We’ll be out in a moment.  Waverly, would you mind getting us some coffee?”

Doc wanted to call the man an insensitive dick for how he kept treating the two young women but then… well then he caught the way the Deputy Marshall was looking between the two with a far too knowing look in his eyes that turned to a barely hidden smile as Waverly rushed through the door after Nicole, grabbed her by the hand and damn near dragged her towards the break room.

Biting back a bark of laughter, Doc picked up the book Waverly had been so engrossed in moments before and read a couple of the passages she had marked off.  “Hmmm, now that is interesting.”


	16. Chapter 16

“Nicole, is it okay if I put some music on?”

“Yeah, sure, anything you want, Waves.”  Turning down the volume on her police radio, Nicole went back to focusing on the crunch of snow and ice under the tires as she slowly sped up the cruiser, giving the heavy vehicle time to gain purchase on the tricky ground.  In her mirror she could see the black SUV with Dolls, Doc and Wynonna in, following them while in front she could see Nedley’s vehicle already fading out of sight.  Looking at her watch she rolled her eyes as she realized it was late. No doubt he was heading to Shorty’s before going home.

Even though the windows were heavily tinted and the weak winter sun twinkled off the glass, Nicole swore she could feel Wynonna’s eyes burning into a spot between her shoulder blades because her baby sister had chosen to catch a lift with her instead of them.

Sometimes it felt like she was just there to be… what, she wasn’t sure… backup?  A distraction?  Taxi service?  She wasn’t sure and no one, not even Waverly would say and she had given up asking.  All Nicole wanted to do was protect the people of Purgatory and Waverly, especially Waverly, from whatever crazy was going on.  But every time she asked she was told to back off by Nedley, by Dolls, Wynonna, and by usual means of distraction, even by Waverly.

Nicole had no idea what had gone down in the woods just.  Partly because she and Nedley had been told to stay with the vehicles to stop anyone wandering into the ‘situation’.  Though, who there was to stop in the middle of a wood was anyone’s guess and apparently none of her business.

The sounds of gunfire had had her drawing her weapon ready to rush into action but Nedley had told her to stay put.  Stay put!?  Her girlfriend had been in danger and she had been made to stand there and wait with her fingers up her ass until they had staggered out of the woods looking rumpled but elated.  That would have been okay but the small cut and smear of blood on Waverly’s cheek had been like a sword straight through her heart.

**_Hey, back off.  Waverly’s fine!  My sister doesn’t need you going all bossy britches on her all the time!_ **

Nicole had asked where the body or bodies were so they could cordon off the area and send in forensics but that had just earned her a typical dismissive snort and eye roll off Wynonna as she had twirled her gun.

She knew she shouldn’t let Wynonna get to her but Waverly’s sister had a way with words that was laser accurate and sent Nicole back to every painful memory and accusation that had been thrown at her all through her life that made it more and more difficult to follow her training and let it wash over her and defuse the situation.

“Nicole, are you okay?”

Sighing, Nicole forced her shoulders to relax from where they had bunched up around her ears.  “Yeah, just… tired.”

“I’ll help you relax later if you want?”

“Can’t… working the late shift.”

“I’ll keep you company then…”

“There’s no need.  Just got paperwork to catch up on,” that would no doubt get screwed up and thrown in the trash again if she got into too much detail about ‘things a rookie flatfoot couldn’t understand’, “and drunks to throw in the tank when Shorty’s closes.  Usual boring small town cop stuff.”

Waverly sank back into the seat and made herself smaller at Nicole’s terse voice and cold attitude.  Glancing out the corner of her eye, Waverly chewed her lip as she took in the tightness of Nicole’s jaw.  She hated keeping things from her… the curse, revenants, demons… their dreams.

Sometimes she thought the easiest parts of those to tell her about was the curse and everything to do with it.  Nicole was surprisingly open minded, more open minded than the people in their small town that had called Wynonna a liar and had her locked up and treated like a crazy person, even though they knew the demons were real.  Nicole was smart, she knew something was up… it was just that Waverly wanted to protect her and keep her away from it all as much as she could.  And given Nicole’s protectiveness that was proving to be more and more difficult.

What Waverly hated herself for though, was her continuing inability to tell Nicole just how long they had been lovers for.  It should have been easy but it wasn’t.  Just as giving up their night time visits now they were lovers for real should have been easy but it wasn’t.

She had felt sure that Nicole would realize after that first night when she had accidently slipped into Nicole’s dream after they had made love but the next morning, and every morning after it had happened time and again… Nicole had just acted confused and drawn away.  Waverly just found it impossible to stay away though.  She wanted every moment with her girlfriend.

“Nicole…”

“I’ll send you a text when I get off shift… let you know I’m home and Calamity is fed.”

Waverly sighed as she looked around and belatedly realized that they were back at the homestead already.  “Oh, okay,” she leaned over to kiss Nicole but the other woman drew back as Dolls’ S.U.V. pulled alongside and Wynonna bounded out and yanked her door open.

“Come on, baby girl.  I’m in the mood for some banana muffins!  See you later… Haughtstuff!”


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short one while i have a drink and get into drunk (or slightly tipsy in my case) Nicole mode for the next chapter.
> 
> HIC!!!

Tossing down the pen she had been tapping on her desk for the past twenty minutes, Nicole looked down at the depressingly empty notepad.  It was tempting to just toss it across the room for all the good it would do to try and write a report anyway.  But she settled for rubbing at her aching neck instead as she looked at the dimly lit squad room.

Across from her she could see the B.B.D. offices, the lack of light from within making the windows look like pools of black ink that were mocking her.

It was tempting.  No one was around to stop her.  She could just walk over, take a look inside and try to work out just what the hell they were hiding.  Knowing, Dolls though, it would be booby-trapped and even if he didn’t put her up against a firing squad for treason, Nicole had the feeling Wynonna would be all too willing to offer up the services of her big ass gun.

The slightest of creaks behind her had Nicole spinning her chair around sharply to see who had entered the station without setting off the buzzer that was set to warn anyone working the night shift that there was someone around.  Slipping quietly out of her chair, Nicole calmly, quietly, moved around to where she could see the door and the room better but there was no one around.  She didn’t call out asking if anyone was there.  Frankly, anyone needing help would have been in sight which left someone that wasn’t there for help or friendly purposes and if that was the case, Nicole didn’t want to give herself away.

Hand on her utility belt, she quietly thumbed open the clasp the stopped it from bouncing loose while chasing down bad guys, stray cattle and drunks down Main Street.  She didn’t draw though, she wasn’t that nervous, she assured herself.

Checking the main door, Nicole glanced around outside and locked it.  Until she was certain that everything was okay inside, anyone wanting in would just have to knock or call despatch.

Another creak, this time from the other side of the squad room, nearly changed her mind about un-holstering her weapon but Nicole held her nerve and calmly moved in the direction of the noise, all the while her eyes moving around to look for anything unusual around the room.  It was more than likely just the old building settling but she wouldn’t be much of a cop if she just sat back and didn’t check.

Moving from room to room, Nicole checked every office, nook, cranny and fire door on that floor but there was nothing out of place.  Scratching the nape of her neck she froze as she sensed something, someone, coming up behind her.

Dropping her hand slowly towards her belt, and the familiar shape of her weapon, Nicole draw it as she spun and dropped into a crouch.  “FREEZE!”


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Doc and Nicole bonding <3 Or... Doc being a Wayhaught shipper and trying to work out things.

“Shit!!!  Henry!!!” quickly pointing her gun up to the ceiling, Nicole attempted to swallow her heart back down her throat as she looked at the smiling moustached face of the strangely old fashioned part of the B.B.D.  He stood there, hands outstretched placatingly… or as much as he could with a bottle of whiskey in one hand and two shot glasses in the other.

There was an old world charm to the man that both worried and charmed Nicole in equal measure.  “What?  How?”  Taking a breath, Nicole surged to her feet and holstered her weapon.  “I thought you would have been at the homestead or in Shorty’s.”

“Well now, Miss Haught… Nicole,” he tipped his head before she could correct him.  “I thought I would come spend some time with you instead.”

Nicole cocked an eyebrow at him in suspicion.  He’d never shown any interest in getting to know her or spend time with her… the only one that had was Waverly.  “I’m on duty, Henry.”

He wiggled the bottle.  “Now then, Nicole, I took a glance at the roster earlier and know that wasn’t the case before we left.”

“Sheriff Nedley asked…” she swallowed her bluster and lie as his moustache quirked as he pursed his lips at her.  “Fine!  I needed some time to think, okay?”

“And how’s that going for you?”

“That would take more than what is in that bottle to find out, Henry.  Now, if you don’t mind I’ve got paperwork waiting.”  Brushing past him, Nicole made her way back to the squad room and sat down.  She picked up her pen ready to pretend to be busy but Henry, pulled a chair around and sat opposite her with a twinkle in his bright blue eyes as he poured two shots of whiskey and put one in front of her.  “Henry…”

“Call me, Doc.”

“Doc.  Don’t make me arrest you.”

“Whatever for?”

“I’ll think of something.”

“Such trickery is beyond you Officer Haught.”

“You don’t know anything about me, Henry!”  Snatching up the shot glass, Nicole downed it and slapped the thick glass back down on the desk.

She had him there, Doc realised as he poured another shot of amber liquid into the glass until it came perilously close to spilling over the lip.  The sad fact was that he, and many others he suspected, had been too caught up in events taking place around them that they only saw the uniform and didn’t question who the person beneath it was.  What she liked?  What she did when she wasn’t working?  Her background?  What had brought her from the city where she could have had any job she wanted to a small backwater town like Purgatory?

The only thing he knew for sure about her was… “I know that you love, Waverly.”  Just the name of the young brunette spitfire had Nicole dipping her head and smiling shyly.  “Does she know you how you feel?”

“Does Wynonna know how you feel?”  Nicole countered.

Raising his glass at her comeback and far too accurate assessment of feelings he’d felt sure he had kept hidden, Doc downed the shot of whiskey with one gulp and watched as Nicole treated hers the same way with only the slightest of grimaces as the fiery liquid burnt its way down.  He went to refill her glass again but her eyes widened as she focussed upon the bottle.

“Wayyyyy’ a minute!” she shook her head at the lightheaded feeling and tried to remember when she had eaten last.  “Wait… ain’t that Wynonna’s whiskey?”

“Yup,” he waited, expecting her to refuse more but a defiant look past behind her eyes and she held the shot glass out to be filled and downed that one as fast as the others.

“Well, tha’s okay then.  Didn’t want to take Nedley’s… it’s been watered down too much,” she confided in a loud whisper.  “Oh, not by me!  By the guys, I don’t drink on duty… often.”

Henry hid a smile as Nicole’s honest nature was brought out even more by the drink.  Drinking slowly, he plied the young officer with whiskey until her eyes softened under the weight of it and she relaxed back into her chair.  “So, Nicole, tell me about yourself?”

“Not much ta tell, Doc.  Just tryin’ ta do my job.  Pushin’ paper, arrestin’ drunks and guardin’ empty roads while been treated like a...” sighing, Nicole clamped her mouth shut and bit back the frustration bubbling up.

Doc sucked on his teeth and stroked a finger over his moustache and eyed the nearly empty bottle of whiskey as Nicole went back to quietly wrapping herself up in a whiskey fuelled professional façade.  This one was proving more difficult to crack and understand that he had thought.  She either had a hell of a lot more strength than he had imagined or she really was as open a book as she tried to make out.

“How have you been sleeping lately, Nicole?”

“What?!”  Guilt rushed through Nicole, tightening her stomach into knots and sending Nicole rushing towards the bathroom as bile rose in her throat.

“Now, that is interesting reaction,” Doc muttered to himself as he stared at Nicole’s still spinning chair.  Whistling softly, he made his way towards the bathroom and listened to the sound of running water and dry heaving from within.  “Very interesting.”


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Going to be pulling an all nighter trying to get to a theory in my head before Emily pulls the rug out from under us.

Nicole watched the water swirling down the drain as she took in deep, calming, breaths and tried to still the guilt and nausea as she blinked through tears.  Splashing her face again, she turned off the tap and sank to the floor.  It was stupid, she knew it was.  She couldn’t control her dreams but… damn it, telling herself, knowing that, never seemed to help fight off the feelings of guilt.

With Waverly in her life… beautiful, smart, everything in one perfect package, Waverly… how could she still be having dreams about another woman?  Waverly was everything she had ever wanted from the moment Nicole had seen her and yet, even after the most intense love making and falling asleep with Waverly’s heart beating against her, Nicole awoke knowing she had slipped straight back into the arms of her dream lover and the guilt was killing her!

It was a dream… it was her own imagination!  Nicole had told herself that over and over and it hadn’t helped because it felt like more and she worried that if everything was so perfect with Waverly, why did her imagination feel the need to conjure up someone else?

The dreams had been equal parts comforting and frustrating when they had started.  So beautiful, loving and erotic as hell and god!  She had wanted to badly for them to be real, to be able to reach out and get her hands on a person that could make her feel so much.  And she had… only the dreams still kept coming.  And if anything they seemed more intense to the point that on the rare occasions when they made love with the lights off, Nicole sometimes wasn’t sure if she was awake or dreaming and panicked.

Nicole wondered if it would have been like that, the dreams, all the guilt if their lives could just get closer?  All the secrets and been held back just kept making her feel useless and unwanted.  “Oh grow a set, woman!”

“Are you doing okay, Nicole?”  Doc let the door swing closed behind him as he studied the woman slumped on the floor.  Her head was down as she studied the tiles between her spread legs intently but her whole posture and demeanour screamed pain and discontent.  Putting his back to the wall, Doc slid down beside her, so close that their shoulders bumped.  He sat there for a second, silence hanging between them… then he held out the bottle of whiskey and felt her shoulder shake against his with a rueful chuckle.

“Trying to get me drunk, Doc?”

“Trying to get you to open up, Nicole.  I hate to see a beautiful woman hurting.”

“I’m fine.”

“I meant, Waverly,” he felt Nicole still for a moment and then she took a long swig from the bottle as though trying to wash her mouth clean.  “She was hurting mighty bad with how you drove away earlier.”

“Yeah well, I didn’t much feel like having Wynonna getting all up in my face again.”  And as bad as she was normally, Nicole couldn’t see it getting anything less than worse if Wynonna knew what she felt for Waverly.

“Wynonna can be a little…”

“Obstinate?  Protective?  Bullish?  Mean when drunk?”

“All of that and more… you have to understand what she has been through, what she is still going through…”

“I know all about Wynonna’s background… what I’m ‘allowed’ to know anyway,” she snorted.  “As much as I know though there is soooooo much more that I’m not allowed in on,” Nicole waved the whiskey bottle around.  “I don’t want to talk about Wynonna.  You’ve all got your secrets!  That’s fine, keep them!  I have my shitty paperwork!  Tell me Doc, how am I supposed to fill it in properly when I’m not allowed to talk about what I see going on?”

“And what do you see?”

“Well for one, Jack’s eyes burning red as he dragged me from my car that day.  The smell of sulphur on his breath before he tossed me across the road like I weighed nothing.  The things he said as he tried to put his boot through my chest and kicked soil onto me.  And that was just that day.  I’m not even going to bother going into the amount of strange red glows after a certain person shoots her weapon, the cattle mutilations and reports of werewolves.  Or how you just happen to look like every photo I have ever seen of Doc Holliday, yes, **_that_** Doc Holliday.  Nope, mustn’t talk about anything like that.  I’m not stupid, Doc!”

“I never thought you were.  Personally I think the Deputy Marshall is a fool for not bringing you in on it already.”

“All of what, Doc?”

“No, first I want to know why you hightailed it like you’d seen a ghost when I asked about your sleep?”

“Why did you want to know?”

“Humour an old man.”

Draining the last of the whiskey, Nicole glared at him.  “You want to know?  Okay!  Fine!  Despite having the most amazing girlfriend, hashtag, don’t tell Wynonna, I keep dreaming about another woman… have been for years… and the guilt is getting to me!”  Sighing at her stupid outburst, realising how even more fucked up it sounded when spoken aloud, Nicole turned her head away and screwed her eyes shut before she saw the conformation of how crazy she was, Nicole was convinced was in his eyes.

All of Waverly’s research on dream walking was starting to make sense to Doc… especially Waverly’s highlighted passages on communicating through them.  “Nicole, I think you…”

“Shhhh!”

“What?” Doc blinked as his attempt to persuade her to talk to her love was cut off.

“Doc, did anyone come in with you?”

“No.  Why?”

Nicole shuffled to the other side of the old ventilation grill she was sitting beside.  “I can hear voices,” crooking a finger she pointed at it until he leaned closer and set his ear too it.  “There shouldn’t be anyone in, Doc.  No one was in when I came in and after I heard you, I dead bolted the door from the inside while I checked around.”

As Doc looked at her, he saw Nicole shrug off the effects of all the whiskey she had consumed.  Well most of it, she was still a little unsteady as she pushed herself up against the wall.

“Coming into my station,” Nicole grumbled as she reached for her weapon.  “Shoot,” she looked down for confirmation and felt around.  “Aww, nuts, I left it at my desk.”

“That’s okay, I’ve got mine.”

“Henry, so help me if you go all patriarchal bullshit land on me I will slap your hat off.”

“Hey now, no need to threaten my hat!  I was going to offer you the use of one of my pistols.”  It was a lie but a necessary one to keep his hat safe.  He blinked, smiling in bemusement as Nicole grabbed his arm and wobbled alarmingly as she lifted a leg.

Nicole grinned as she showed Doc her spare weapon.  “That's right, I keep one in my sock.  How smart am I?  I- I'm smart," she slurred.

“Very smart,” he smiled as he drew his pistols and cocked them.  “Now, shall we go see who’s dared to break into our house?”  He was sorely tempted to coldcock the young redhead but two things held him back.

One was the fact that despite the occasional slurred word and quite frankly adorable smile, Nicole was very much in control of herself.  The other was that he wasn’t sure if Waverly would thank him for keeping her lady love out of danger or blast him in the ass with her shotgun… knowing Waverly she would do both and then apologize.

He watched her closely as they left the bathroom though and with each step grew more and more impressed with her instincts.  Even been a few drinks away from alcohol poisoning didn’t faze her and he knew she was someone he would trust at his back in any situation if need be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of my strange theories...
> 
> If they include the PCF's into the show. Baron Samedi will be called upon to save Nicole (who I believe Emily will kill in 2x10). But before she comes back Waverly will go all half revenant / avenging angel or just Earp killer and crazy on the widows.  
> Mattie, if it is Mattie, will save Nicole. I also have a theory that Mattie could actually be Baron Samedi's wife.  
> Waverly could discover the long held angel inside and bring Nicole back.  
> Nicole might be more than she seems.  
> Nicole might be given the choice to kill Nedley or Waverly and end up riddled with guilt for doing what she said and shooting anyone for Waverly.  
> Bobo will save Nicole to make sure his Angel isn't hurt.
> 
> All these theories and more to be disproved later :D


	20. Chapter 20

Realising she’d growling loudly enough to disturb Calamity and make her lift her head, Waverly offered the big ginger cat a treat and a rub along the side of her cheek whilst her other hand squeezed her phone in frustration at the lack of answer from Nicole.

With how Nicole had left, Waverly had wanted to go to the station to find out what was wrong but she had talked herself out of it and decided that Nicole just needed space.  When she had woken and found no middle of the night texts or even one to say she was home, Waverly had found herself torn between waves of anger and fear.

Anger that she was been ghosted and fear that Nicole was lying in a ditch injured or dead.

“Just so you know C.J. if your momma is okay and ignoring me, I might just kill her myself… but don’t worry, I’ll take care of you,” she promised as the cat fixed her with a baleful stare.  “Okay!  Fine!  I won’t kill, kill her!”

Hearing a vehicle pulling up outside, Waverly rushed to the window.  Her excitement turned to soul crushing fear, a whimper crashing from her lips as she realised it was Nedley’s car and not Nicole’s that had pulled up.  She sagged, fingers clutching at the wall as the passenger door opened and Nicole appeared.

“Hey, cutie!”

“Don’t cutie me!”  She softened at the dejected expression on Nicole’s face, “Hi, sweetie pie.”  The whipped puppy look on Nicole’s face turned into a lopsided smile that had Waverly’s mouth curving up in response to the sheer cute brilliance of it.  “Seriously, what the hell happened?”

“Officer Haught here and Doc had a run in at the station.”

“With each other?!”

“No!  No… there was a break in,” Nedley rushed to get out as he steadied his Deputy.

“They broke into my desk, Wave.  We got them though.  Me and Doc!”

“Took my door out while doing it though,” Nedley griped mildly.  He wasn’t mad at Nicole, she was a damn fine officer and she had at least not downed his whiskey stash, though god knows what Wynonna would do if she worked out there was one of her many bottles missing.  But… she had talked his ear off the whole way home about how amazing Waverly was.  “Don’t worry,” he quickly assured Waverly, “Nicole is fine, just scratched and a bit bruised but she will have a hell of a hangover later.  If you want I can take her back and throw her in the drunk tank?”

“That’s okay, Sherriff, if you can get her inside I’ll take care of her.”

The anticipation in Waverly’s eyes made Nedley kind of feel sorry for Nicole… and then he looked up and saw that damned man hating cat of Nicole’s looking at him through the window.  “Erm, Waverly, could you do me a favour and lock that thing up for me?”

Looking over her shoulder, Waverly took in C.J.’s tail twitching in anticipation and rushed inside to see to her while Nedley wrestled Nicole closer to the house.  With C.J. in the closet, Waverly opened the door and was greeted with Nicole’s bright smile again.

“Hey!  You’re so pretty and I like you so much!”

“You are drunk and in so much trouble!  Doc to when I get my hands on him for letting you get in this state!”  Propping her shoulder up under Nicole’s, Waverly helped Nedley get her into the bedroom and let her flop down on to the mattress face first.

“Oh, Doc gave me this and said to give it to you,” fishing around in his jacket, Nedley handed her the string tied package.  “Good luck with that,” he nodded towards the bedroom and rolled his eyes as Nicole rambled some more about been smart and Waverly been ‘soooooooo pretty’.  “Tell her she’s got three days and then I want her back in.”

“Night shifts again?”

“No, as tempting a punishment as that would be, I think it would be best if she was on days for a while… but preferably away from Doc!  Best damn Deputy I ever had and he gets her fall down drunk!  Personally I thought it would be your sister that would get her that way first… just not on duty!” he shouted over his shoulder as he climbed back into his car.  The sight of Nicole’s cat glaring at him from the window again made him put his foot down harder than he intended.

“C.J.!  How did you get out again?”  Picking up the ginger monster, Waverly put her back in the kitchen so she could finish her food.  “Just while I take care of your, momma,” she explained to the disinterested cat as she shut the door on her and made her way to the bedroom.

Waverly stood in the doorway for a moment, just looking at the sunlight glinting off of Nicole’s red hair.  She wanted to be mad at her but she just couldn’t find it in her… Doc on the other hand was definitely getting an earful when she caught up to him!

Doc…

Remembering the package, Nedley had given her from the gunslinger, Waverly sat down on the bed at Nicole’s side and turned the package around in her hands.  As though sensing her presence, Nicole wiggled closer, curling around her thigh and hip, and throwing an arm over Waverly’s legs.  Looking down at her, Waverly smiled softly as she ran her fingers through Nicole’s hair.

The cut on the milky whiteness of her cheek, as small as it was, made her frown.  She knew that Nicole’s job wasn’t safe and that they spent far too much time ending wounds on each other but it still hurt to know something had happened.  She’s gone through a door… a door that was mostly glass!  What could have happened didn’t bear thinking about.

“I’m sorry, Waves.”

For a moment, Waverly thought she was imagining the soft apology but Nicole’s eyes flickered open enough for her to see her out of focus gaze.  “Whatever for, baby?”

“Never wanted to hurt you.”

Confusion and concern raced through Waverly as Nicole screwed her eyes shut and buried her face against her and started to sob brokenly.  Putting aside the parcel from Doc, Waverly cajoled and prodded at Nicole and made her make room on the bed for her so she could hold her close.  “I’ve got you.”


	21. Chapter 21

Eyes tightly closed, Nicole desperately tried to keep as still as possible and ignore the pounding in her own skull.  She didn’t really want to think or feel anything right then but even as she thought that she became aware of the warm length of body spooned up behind her and decided that maybe that kind of feeling wasn’t so bad after all.  Not that she was in a hurry to move or do anything but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t enjoy that absolutely perfect way Waverly fit against her.

Been as she was shorter though, Nicole wondered if the shorter woman wouldn’t be better off if she cut her hair so she wasn’t buried in it?  It would certainly make it easier for her to care for too.  Sucked sometimes having to have more than one Stetson depending on how she had her hair.  That French braid was especially troublesome on the hat size.

Running fingers over the arm resting around her waist, Nicole suddenly realised that not only was Waverly dressed, which wasn’t unusual in bed, but she was too which was a little more unusual… especially as it was her uniform and not sweats she was in.  “What?”  Her head hurt just thinking about thinking but she prodded at her sluggish memory and teased out the details.  “Doc?”

“You did not just say another man’s name in our bed,” Waverly teased softly.

“No!  God, I would never…”

“Hey, it’s okay, Nicole.  I was teasing you.”  She felt bereft as Nicole scrambled out of her arms and sat hunched up against the headboard.  “It’s okay,” turning on the bedside lamp she grew quiet at the look of shame on Nicole’s face.  “I- I left a bottle of water and some painkillers on your side.”

Waverly watched over Nicole as she drained the water bottle.  Her quietness was worrying her more and more.  Who had checked her over after she had gone through the window?  Was there a chance she was concussed?  “Nicole, can you remember what happened at the station?”

“Yeah… well it’s a bit of a blur with all the whiskey.  If Wynonna notices it’s gone, Doc was the one that took it.”  Nicole winced as her voice got a little too loud.  “God, now I remember why I try to avoid the stuff,” she whined.  “I’m okay with everything else as long as I don’t mix drinks but whiskey gives me the worst hangovers every time!”

“Just don’t admit that around Wynonna, baby.”  Waverly smiles as Nicole’s grunt came from beneath the pillow she had put over her face.  “Hey… you remember everything else though, right?  I want to make sure you didn’t scramble that gorgeous brain too much.”

Nicole refused to come out from beneath the pillow and raised her hands to tick off highlights from the night.  “Hmm, let’s see.  Henry got me off my ass drunk.  I heard a noise.  Found four dudes been super creepy around the squad room.  I managed to get one down and cuffed before I got grabbed and tossed through Nedley’s door… god, I bet he’s not happy about that, they were only cleaned the other day.  I got that one down though while Doc took care of the others.  I tried to text to let you know I would be late home but my phone got smashed when I went through the door.”

Waverly’s jaw clenched at the thought of what had happened.  She was glad Doc had been there ‘cause knowing Nicole she would have taken them on even if she had been alone.  “Any idea what they were after?”

“Well I’ve got a few cold case files in there but they were more than likely after my keys to the evidence locker.”

“Cold cases?”

“Yeah, I was just going through them to see if I could spot anything new.  Fresh eyes and all that.”  It wasn’t much but it did help to relieve the boredom when nothing was happening during regular shifts.  “I think I need to take a shower.”

“Need any help?”

Nicole stopped Waverly’s wandering hands as they teased between the buttons on her shirt.  “As wonderful as that sounds, I think this time I would rather get the shower over with quickly so I can get back to nursing this head.”

“Nicole?  Why we’re apologising about hurting me when you came in?”  She watched as Nicole’s back stiffened, a tension running through her shoulders.

“I- Waverly, I was drunk… it was just rambling.  Hell, I was probably apologizing for not texting.”  Nicole could tell that Waverly wasn’t buying it.  Hell, she could feel the glare burning through her shoulders but like a coward, Nicole ran and put the bathroom door between them.  She just wasn’t ready to face her guilt.


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -_- Short chapter as my Wayhaught muses decided they didn't want to get too angsty right now. Afraid i had to cut them off where i did though else i would be still blushing and trying to write when the show is on.

Waverly narrowed her eyes as she heard the bathroom door lock.  Nicole never locked the door when she was there and that one small noise hurt like hell.  Rather than giving in to her hurt though, Waverly wrapped herself up in anger and pulled it tight… for all of the ten seconds it took for self-doubt to creep in.

Had she done something wrong?  Was Nicole worried about hurting her because she wanted to break up?

No, it couldn’t be that… could it?  Nicole was always so loving and responsive… even when blind drunk she had called her cutie and been extra sweet.  Drawing her knees up, Waverly wrapped her arms around them and rocked slightly as she tried to work out what to do.

“Waves?”

Waverly looked towards the bathroom and felt herself melt into the warmth in Nicole’s gentle brown eyes and soft smile as she stood there in typical lounging position with one towel wrapped around her whilst she rubbed at her hair with another.

“Feeling better?”

“Much,” Nicole chuckled slightly as she walked across the room.  Apparently there was nothing like a good blast of cold water to help push aside stupid guilty feelings that no basis in reality.  “Found bits of glass down the back of my pants, very glad to get shot of those.”

“Me too,” patting the bed in front of her, Waverly took the towel from Nicole’s hands and started gently working on her hair as she settled into place.  “Especially glad as I kind of like grinding on that ass of yours.  Not sure who that could have been more ow for but… OW.”

Leaning back, Nicole closed her eyes and savoured the feel of Waverly’s body and the rhythmic touch of her hands.  “Mmmm,” she sighed in bliss.  “Hey, Waves… think you would still like me if I got my hair cut?”

“I think I would ‘like’ you no matter what.  How short are you thinking though?”

“Hmmm, yay length?” she waved a hand around just above her shoulder.  “Braiding it just takes so long.  And you wouldn’t end up chewing on it when you’re the big spoon.”

Even though Nicole was free to do whatever she wanted with her hair, warmth spread through Waverly at the admittance that she was thinking long-term about their sleeping arrangements.  “Does mine get in the way when we’re switched?”

“Nope… you’re short and fit under my chin just right.”

“Hey, I’m not that short!”  Waverly poked Nicole in the ribs as she chuckled.

“You, Waverly Earp, are just the right amount of short for me… in other words, you fit me perfectly in every single way.”

Waverly’s hands stilled, the towel dropping from suddenly limp hands as the heat and hunger dripping from Nicole’s voice met with the rising tide flooding through her body in response.

“Waverly?”

“Yes, babe?

“Clothes.  Off.  Now.”

The command, even coming so softly and rendered even more so by Nicole’s smile, felt like an explosion going off inside of Waverly.  There was no threat there, no hint of violence at all, there never was with her best baby.  But she knew Nicole intended on taking charge and, God, she wanted it too!  She needed it!  To feel her take control of their lovemaking and guide her where she wanted to go.  “And if I said no?”

“If you meant it I would back off… and get the cuffs,” Nicole teased at Waverly’s pout, she knew full well what she was doing.  Turning in Waverly’s arms, Nicole leaned closer, letting her towel drop open just to see the lust rising in Waverly’s eyes.  “I really want you to be able to grab hold when you need to though, so I would prefer not to have to cuff you… maybe next time.”

“Or I could cuff you.”

“Waverly Earp… clothes!”


	23. Chapter 23

Waverly’s body felt as heavy as lead and as light as a feather all at the same time as she drifted down into herself and felt the loving weight of Nicole’s body pressed against her.  Tightening trembling arms, he held Nicole close as she tried to remove her weight.  “Stay,” she whispered huskily against her ear.  “Not ready to let you go yet.”

“This is so wrong.”

At Nicole’s broken whisper, Waverly finally realised they were asleep.  As her girlfriend tossed fitfully against her, Waverly gently rubbed her back and shoulders, quieting her down before she could pitch herself back to wakefulness.  “It’s okay,” she lulled softly.

“No… wrong… so wrong.  Waverly deserves better!”

Damn it!  Waverly realised that the note she had read from Doc scrawled into her book on controlling dream when she had gotten up to go to the bathroom had been right.  She had known inside it was else she wouldn’t have been doing research on it in the first place.  She had never imagined though that Nicole would have taken their time together there as cheating on her.  But then… she’d never taken the time to tell Nicole what she could do… what they had been doing or ask what Nicole even saw in the dreams.  “Oh, fudgenuggets!”

“Waves?”

Nicole’s hopeful whisper made Waverly sigh brokenly.  She couldn’t believe she’d managed to screw something so beautiful up.  What was worse was the uncertainty of what Nicole would think or do if she realised what had been going on for over three years.

But… she reasoned, her best baby had been so sweet, reasonably and more than wonderfully controlling… for hours upon glorious hours that had continued on after they had fallen asleep entwined… **_‘Waverly!  Focus!’_** and that had been while apparently been riddled by a guilt she didn’t deserve.

“Nicole?”  Tucking back a strand of red hair, Waverly caressed the softness of her cheek.

“Hmmm?”

“Remember in the hospital after you got hurt?  No, shhh, I’ve got you,” she whispered as Nicole writhed against her in fear.  “You’re safe.  Remember what Doc told you, you’ve got more senses that just sight.”

“Yeah…”

“Keep your eyes closed, baby.  I know you know in your heart where you are.  Just relax and remember everything you hear and smell.  Each touch,” unable to stop herself, Waverly stroked the lightest brush of finger tips down Nicole’s spine.  “Every kiss,” Nicole’s mouth sought for hers, her breath warm and tingling against her, the tip of her tongue a soft brush against her soul that made Waverly moan in delight again.

‘Oh god, please let her remember this!’ Waverly begged silently before giving herself over to Nicole’s touch again.


	24. Chapter 24

“Hey, baby!”  Wiggling around under the wonderful weight sprawled upon her, Waverly stretched and looped her hands around the back of Nicole’s neck so her fingers could play in the warmth there.

“Hey.  So, sleep good?”

Waverly’s eyes popped open at the tone in Nicole’s voice.  It wasn’t angry… there was just a question hidden beneath the question that made her nervous before she remembered why she needed to be nervous.  “You- you’re dressed?  You’re supposed to be off for a couple more days”

“Yeah.  Nedley called and asked if I wanted to hear the interrogation.”

“Oh.”

“You didn’t answer.  Did you sleep good?”

“Yes,” ** _Don’t ask!  Don’t ask!_**  “You?”

“Oh, sounds like my ride is here!  Oh, and Waverly?”

Here it comes, she thought, her heart cracking.  The goodbye.  The get out of my life, I never want to see you again.  “Yes?”

“One… there’s a gift in your bedside drawer.  Two, yes, I said your drawer.  Three,” gently she lobbed the book on dream walking onto the bed at Waverly’s side, “we will be talking later.  And four…”

Struggling to work out what was going on, Waverly dragged her eyes away from the damning evidence of the book and looked at Nicole.  “Four?”

“I love you so damn much,” sliding her hand to the nape of Waverly’s neck, Nicole lifted her and kissed her deeply.  “We will be going over point three a **_LOT_** make no mistake about that.  I’m just glad there’s a rational explanation and I haven’t been going crazy all these years.”  Following the path Waverly had painted on her body in her… their dream, Nicole watched Waverly’s eyes soften as she brushed her fingers down Waverly’s spine and gave her the softest of kisses.  “I need to head out… talk to you later.”

Unable and unwilling to wipe the smile from her face, Waverly grabbed Nicole’s pillow and buried her face in it in delight as she breathed in the scent of her love.  Her love.  She had called her that so often in her head but she realised that was the first time either of them had said the words ‘I love you’.

Remembering Nicole’s one and two, Waverly reached for the drawer on her side of the bed.  Her side… even that sounded so much more wonderful now.  Her smile felt like it was threatening to fly clean off her face as she pulled a freshly made house key out of the drawer, it, and the tag attached to it, both had her name engraved upon them.

Flying off the bed, Waverly wrapped a robe around herself and raced through the house.  Flinging open the front door she rushed through the snow and flung herself into Nicole’s arms, pushing her love back against the side of the truck.  Wrapping her legs around Nicole’s waist she covered her face and mouth with heated kisses.  “I love you!  I love you!  I love you!”

“I love you too,” Nicole smiled.  “Waves…” she nodded back over her shoulder.

“Ohhhh.” Waverly blushed furiously as she looked at just who had come to pick Nicole up.  “Hi, Wynonna.”

Wynonna pulled the sprinkle donut from her mouth and eyed them up.  “Well… it’s about time you slackers told me officially!  Now will you get in the damn truck, Haughtstuff!?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feels like I rushed it a bit but I just wanted Nicole to be sweet and understanding <3  
> One more chapter to come ;)


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick flash forwards to the night of the party thrown by Bobo at the end of Season 1.

As Nicole placed her neatly folded gown into her locker she felt something shift around her.  There was no one in the room.  With everyone going crazy she had checked the room thoroughly before even thinking of changing back into uniform.  And she could see the room behind her clearly through the mirror on her locker door.

But at the same time, she knew there was someone there.  She could feel the itch of it, the knowledge that someone was getting closer.

Nicole blinked slowly and reached for her weapon as the room darkened around her.  Her mind raced but her breathing felt shallow, her body moving in slow motion.  She hadn’t drank the poisoned champagne at the party Bobo Del Rey had thrown, but she suddenly felt drugged.  And going by the figure stepping up from behind her through the smoke billowing in a rising wave around her she felt sure she was probably hallucinating too?

The man was so close now and Nicole’s senses were assaulted by the smell of rum, cigar smoke, and spices that emanated from him.  Fading in and out of the smoke, he studied her intently and she studied him back.

He was handsome, tall and thin with skin as dark as night.  He was dressed super well, but there was something wrong about it.  Looking closer, Nicole realised there was dirt, earth, trickling down off his elegant jacket and spilling from the cuffs.  She swallowed nervously as the thought sprang to her mind… ‘grave dirt’, and it came to her in a rush that, apart from missing a top hat, his attire reminded her out an old fashioned undertaker walking before a horse drawn hearse.

“Who are you?”

He stopped, eyes lifting towards her face and looking closer.  “Ma name is Baron Samedi.  I think the question though should be, who are you?  You have not summoned me, Nicole Haught, you should not even be able to see me.”

Straining, Nicole willed her hand to reach for her utility belt where it hung upon her locker door and her damned weapon but she couldn’t move.

“There is a strength in you.  More to you than meets the eye I think.  I like that,” leaning closer, he breathed in the scent of the woman and absorbed everything she was and had been and everything she was supposed to be.  Which was unusual as he usually ushered people to their graves and people such as those tended to not have a ‘supposed to be’ and he couldn’t sense in her anything that said she was the kind to beg for her life or cut a deal that would go against the principals he could feel engraved into her soul.  This was the kind of person that people made deals for.

Placing the head of his cane against her heart he dug deeper into her life and saw who’s hers was entwined with.  One in particular shone brightly, so brightly he could barely glimpse the person within the ethereal glow, but he saw enough.

“Leave her alone!”

Stepping back, he whipped his cheek where the backlash of her will had cut him like a knife.  Part of him wanted to wrap a hand around her neck and have her dangling but he could see why she needed to stick around.  Usually he could be forced by spells and incantations to cut a deal to save a life… but sometime, very rarely, there came along someone that needed help staying, not leaving, because they were destined for more and cutting the thread of their life would cause irreparable harm.

“I can see every part of your life, Nicole Haught.  And I can see that you are still needed here… by her.  There is a darkness coming and she will need your guidance to fight it off before it consumes the world.  Find her in dream, be her rock when she falters, guide her.  We will meet again, Nicole but… until then… follow your training and put your damn vest on!”  He could see more, glimpses of their future entwined and one thing was clear, if either of them died the other would burn the world with their pain.

Nicole sagged, leaning against her open locker as she caught her breath.  She felt strange like there was something she needed to remember but… nope, there was nothing there.  Through the open door she could hear Waverly’s voice clearly above Wynonna and Willa’s.  Smiling despite the seriousness of everything going on, Nicole closed her locker door and turned, a spring in her step as she thought of been back at Waverly’s side again.

Her stride faltered and she looked back at the locker as the door swung back open.  Nicole stepped back towards it, feeling like she was walking through a dream as the whiteness of her bullet proof vest seemed to shine out at her.  It was Purgatory, quirky little Purgatory… full of demons and supernatural shit she was only just beginning to realise were actually real…

…damn straight she was putting her vest on!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The End :)


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